Lost Star
by Emma Nonn
Summary: Tiella, a mercenary from an AU of modern day Earth where myths and legends are apparently true, gets transported to Remnant due to interacting with a relic from her world. And because of unforeseen circumstances, is inadvertently caught in the middle of Ozpin's war. Now, how will her presence change the lives of our characters? Will not be a power-fantasy self-insert, I swear!
1. Chapter 1

There she laid, the cold hard floor stealing warmth from her body. Coughing awake, she suddenly jerked to sit upright.

"Ugh... where the hell am I?" she said, holding her head with both hands as she rested her elbows on her knees.

Waking up feeling groggy, she let her eyes wander. A dimly lit hall with high ceilings and large pillars leading somewhere, and end where she could not see.

"What was I doing again..?"

Brushing her bangs out of her eyes to see better, she turned in place, slowly taking in her surroundings.

"I think I was with Lillianne and Bardel... doing... _something... somewhere_..."

Tired, she looked up, then hung her head as she let out a long, deep sigh. Frustrated that she can't recall what she'd been doing before she ended up where she stood, she opted to clear her head by exploring whatever this place was.

 _"Lamps... obviously leading somewhere. Is that green fire? God where the hell am I? This place better not be some hideout for a creepy ass cult. And this path better lead to a god damn exit."_

Following the lamps, the only sound she could hear for minutes was the echoes of her boots hitting the large floor tiles. Eventually, she found herself at an intersection where both hallways just end up getting darker the further they go. She stood there for a few seconds, contemplating whether to make a turn or just go straight ahead.

 _"Yay, more halls to help me get lost."_

Not feeling the mood to decide for herself, she copped her pockets for a coin. Luckily for her, she had a couple. Fishing one out of her pocket, she laid the coin flat on her thumb, ready to flip.

 _"Heads to make a turn, tails to continue going forward. I'll do another if it hits heads,"_ she said to herself, a mental note to make sure she didn't forget which side decided which.

The coin flipped in the air and she caught it lazily with her right hand and immediately pressed it flat on the back of her left hand. She removed her hand, revealing tails.

 _"Straight ahead then."_

She walked forward and did another flip of the coin and caught it lazily once more, then placed it back in the pocket she retrieved it from. Her decision to walk forward was again met with another intersection, much like the first one. This time, however, she opted to keep walking forward, too tired to even think of deciding on anything.

A short moment later, she found the end of the hall where the lights were a little brighter.

An elevator. She looked up and sighed in relief. Then she fetched the coin another time, flipped it once more, caught it, and gave it a kiss.

 _"Ugh... thank Lady Luck."_ she thought as she pocketed her lucky coin again. She walked up to the elevator and found no buttons to open the doors.

 _"Oh god please don't tell me I'm trapped... wherever the hell_ _ **here**_ _is."_ her eyes wandered frantically, searching for a button, then slapped herself in the head hard enough to actually leave a mark.

 _"There's that fucking button."_ she hurriedly pressed it. Not feeling anything happening, she pressed it harder with two fingers, and still no reaction. Pissed as hell already, she slammed her fist hard and finally, she heard the infamous _"ding"_ and the sound of the elevator doors opening. _"Am I going blind or am I just tired? How do you feel so old while being so young?"_

She stepped in, and pressed the button that leads to the first floor... had it been there in the first place. She found it odd that there had been no buttons other than the one that had no symbol on it. Deciding again to not dwell on it, she pressed it and went to the far back to lean on the wall, hands in her pockets and left foot touching said wall.

 _"Feeling old while still young... heh... top ten questions science still cannot answer. Pfft... hehehe... Wait- no-... Oh god, Lillianne's stupid jokes are rubbing on me."_ she snickered, softly chuckling at the joke she thought to herself while she waited. After the short laugh, she looked up to see where she was but again, found no symbol giving away just where she had been.

"I was underground then?" she said after focusing on the feeling of being pulled down. _"I still can't remember what I was doing with those two, god damn it. Well, whatever it was, should come back to me after a while."_ she hummed in thought. She closed her eyes, as she's the only one there, not noticing the small camera that can be easily found at the corner of the elevator, tired as she was.

 _"At least there's no elevator music."_

Completely unbeknownst to her, below where she had just been, a short ways off the place she laid, a large door with intricate patterns and engravings stood, braziers holding larger green fire at the side. The dimly glowing light that can be found at the top of the door frame slowly but surely shrunk to a dot, until it was no more. The sphere, the source of light at the door, almost instantly after going out, had cracked.

* * *

A minute or two later, Tiella heard the elevator's _"ding"_ and her eyes opened groggily. The doors opened, and what greeted her was a bright light from the outside that completely contrasted the dimness of the place below.

She closed her eyes reflexively and turned her head away slightly, then once more she looked ahead. She saw a table where a silver-haired man was sitting at, looking like he had been sipping coffee, eyebrows raised and looking directly at her with a stoic expression.

Then she saw another person, a woman with blonde hair and a scowl on her face, holding what seemed to be a riding crop threateningly at her.

"Speak. Who are you, what were you doing down there, and how did you get there?" the woman said, her voice on edge. A hard look can be found in her eyes as she tilted her head upward to look down on Tiella. "Don't even bother defending yourself. Do anything suspicious and I throw you out the window."

 _"Fucking hell... nothing's ever easy."_ she thought, sensing the danger she had unwittingly placed herself in. She glared back at the woman, then at the man still sitting contentedly at his table sipping his coffee, then back at the woman. Not even bothering to go for a fighting stance, she slowly rose both her hands above her head.

"My name is Tiella," she said, taking one cautious step forward to test the waters and immediately the lady tensed and a purple glow covered her riding crop. _"She a Skill User too?"_ sensing that doing anything she hasn't said she's allowed to do was a bad idea, she placed her foot back to where it was. "I'm a mercenary..." she said, holding off on what else to say.

 _"I'm not really sure if being honest would work here... but I don't really have anything else to go with. Fuck it."_ she sighed, she shook her head while looking down and internally begged for Lady Luck to save her ass once more.

"I'm a mercenary... and," she licked her dry lips, "...I'm positive that you won't believe me but..." she looked between the two people, standing stiffly in her place, "I don't really know how or why I ended down where I was."

Not even a second later she found herself being forced into a wall by an... invisible force, not understanding anything that was happening. All she understood was that she was hurting everywhere and that it was hard to breathe.

"Surely you don't expect us to believe that?" her face felt like it was being pressed on by something heavy, and then her whole body had been lifted while still being pressed onto said wall.

"I won't ask again." the lady threatened. Tiella looked below, where she saw the lady was now standing in front of her, still holding her riding crop against her, baleful glare in her eyes.

"God damn it! I don't know!" she forced her words out, "I don't know okay! I don't fucking _know!_ " not one to back down, she forced herself to meet the lady face to face to send her a glare of her own. _"Of course she's a god damned Skill User too."_

Without even speaking anymore, the lady flicked her wrist and she was sent speeding into the window.

 _"Ah shit. I hope this isn't any higher than the 5th floor."_ she thought, readying herself for a sharp fall.

Steeling herself, she closed her eyes as she can't put her arms in front of her to shield her face and prepared to roll as soon as she felt the ground, though it never came.

"Glynda." she heard, a man's voice.

 _"I haven't crashed?" s_ he felt no motion for a few seconds, believing that she'd come to a stop, so she opened her eyes. " _Oh god thank Lady Lu- whoah-ly shit!"_

There stood the man that had been doing nothing but sip coffee since earlier, face just inches in front of her, still holding the damned cup. He was studying her face closely, holding his chin with his face up close to hers, which unnerved her and made things even more awkward than it already was with her being suspended in midair in a, well, _awkward_ position.

A short moment later, he stared intently at her eyes, unnerving her even further. "Golden eyes," he said in a low voice as if whispering, though she was sure the lady heard it too, then took another casual sip. He then looked beyond her to where Tiella assumed the lady, who she remembered was called "Glynda", was standing and gave her a look. With an idea of what the man wanted, the lady rolled her eyes, scowl never leaving her face.

"Ozpin," voice cold, "I'm not letting her go," Glynda said, a tone that left no room for objections.

"Of course." Ozpin, as Tiella now knew both their names, nodded his head in acknowledgment and faced Tiella again.

"You said your name was Tiella, was it?" she would have nodded if she could, but remembered that she could at the very least speak, albeit with a little bit of difficulty.

"Yes." voice slightly strained.

"Good. Now, Ms. Tiella, why don't you join us? We'll be taking a short walk _'down there'_." and gave her a look, one eyebrow raised, a not so subtle dare to question him.

"Wow, giving me a choice? What changed your mind?" she said sarcastically, and immediately she felt a force tighten around her body momentarily, squeezing as if to make her pop not unlike a pressed balloon, before loosening up once more. _"Man, fuck that lady."_

* * *

After a _very_ awkward 3 minutes in the elevator, they finally reached their destination. Tiella unwillingly followed them as she's still suspended in midair. _"Hope they don't lock me up, escaping's gonna be a pain."_

"Let's say we believe what you said," Ozpin said, walking ahead of them, cane in hand. "where and how exactly did you find yourself?"

Lost in thought for a bit, she was unable to answer immediately, so she was brought back to attention by another painful squeezing sensation. "God damn it, lady!" she yelled indignantly.

"Answer him." her voice still cold.

"I was gonna, even without your fucking probi-" suddenly forced to stop, she felt her mouth forced shut, and the painful squeezing returned, but with added twists to her body.

"Glynda." Ozpin called without looking back, "Please, let her speak." his voice betraying nothing, unnervingly indifferent to Tiella's ears.

Glynda obliged and loosened her grip on Tiella, allowing her to speak freely. Free to breathe and speak once more while still being held in the air, she gasped, breathing as hard as she could, both to breathe and to soothe the pain the only way she knew she could given her situation.

"Lady-..." she breathed the words out, "...fuck your shit." ever the rebellious young girl.

Glynda ignored her words, not wanting to be chastised by Ozpin for the same reason a second time.

"Well?" Ozpin spoke, his tone a touch colder than it had been. "I hope you understand that you're under our mercy at the moment. So I hope you refrain from speaking crudely to my assistant."

Tiella heard the threat loud and clear, and she also saw that his knuckles had tensed as he was speaking, only loosening when he had finished his words. "Fine." she sighed once more, _"Lady Luck don't abandon me now."_ she mentally begged once more. "A couple paces from here, I woke up on the floor."

"You woke up?" Ozpin repeated.

"Yeah. I only remember that I was on the floor in the middle of this hall." she looked down, she would've hung her head if she could, and spoke in a low voice, "I can't even remember what I was doing to get here. I was hoping I could remember in time."

"Again, do you expect us to believe that?" Glynda spoke from behind them.

"I don't."

"In that case, we simply need to investigate the area," Ozpin spoke casually, the edge in his voice from before having left.

"Can you let me go? I have an itch on my ass and it's not like I can run from blondie over there." Tiella asked, actually feeling an itch on her left buttocks.

"Ozpin?"

He finally turned to face them since coming down and stared at Tiella for a short moment, "Very well. She understands her situation well enough. However, any weapon you have will be left with my assistant."

Slowly letting her down, "I hope _you_ know what you're doing." addressing Ozpin as she released her hold on Tiella. Shortly after finally scratching her butt, she drew her combat knives, four of them, along with four pistols, begrudgingly handing them over to Glynda one by one, letting them float behind her. She also took off her grenade belt to hand over.

While Tiella had been taking her gear off, Glynda took the time to look over Tiella's tools. _"Pistols, simple in design. Two of them seem to be made for explosive power while the other two were made for penetrating thick armor."_ she let her Aura enter the pistols, inspecting every nook and cranny, _"No Dust? Are her bullets solely made of metal? That can't be good. And her knives?"_ extending her Aura deep into the knives' integrity, she found the same result. _"Even her knives are not Dust enhanced."_ she concentrated a bit more _"And I can find no trace of her Aura in them. Very strange."_

 _"Does she not have her Aura unlocked?"_ Glynda thought, forcing the scowl on her face to stay in an attempt to not give away her shock to the others. _"And she calls herself a mercenary? Either she's just another buffoon or there's something she's not telling us. And I hope for all our sakes, it's the former."_

After Tiella finished handing over everything, she raised her hands above her head once more and showed both the front and back of them to show that she was then empty handed.

Ozpin faced forward once more and lead the way to where he hoped he would not find anything amiss. _"While not exactly old, her choice in weaponry, especially her armor, are a little dated."_ he thought to himself, noting the look Glynda made after what he believed to be her inspection of Tiella's tools. _"And it seems that Glynda found something noteworthy."_

"Now then, where exactly did you say you found yourself?" Ozpin once again asked.

"I can't say _exactly_ where since the pillars here all look the same but we're almost there, just past the intersecting hallways."

A short, quiet moment later where the echoes of their shoes were the only thing they heard, Tiella finally asked them to stop.

"Right around here."

"Hmm." Ozpin looked around, then, without looking back, "Glynda, if you would please."

Without speaking, Glynda once more took hold of Tiella and held her in midair.

"What the-" was all she could say before her mouth was once again forcibly shut. Thankfully, there was no squeezing or twisting that followed, though she was still annoyed that she couldn't speak.

Ozpin and Glynda continued walking forward, searching the walls beside them, letting their Aura's area of influence expand, taking up the entire width of the hall and a few short meters front and behind them.

Unaware of the two's expanding auras, which seemed to further confirm Glynda's suspicions of an unlocked Aura based on the lack of reaction from her, Tiella glumly looked around, checking for anything she might've missed the first time.

A short while later, Ozpin took an abrupt halt and gave Glynda a worried look. "The Relic."

"What?" was all Glynda could say while understanding the worry that Ozpin felt, she was unsure exactly what it could be.

"I originally feared that she was one of _her_ pawns the moment we saw her inside the elevator, which lead me to fear for Amber. Thankfully, she's unharmed, but..."

"But?"

"Amber was not affected. No, I have a feeling we have something worse on our hands." Ozpin said. He reached his Aura further, to where Amber would be resting, confirming that she remained untouched.

"You mean to tell me..." Glynda glared at Tiella, who was floating in the air, a confused look on her face as she tried to piece together what she heard, to no avail. "You!" she let go of her hold over Tiella's mouth but squeezed and twisted her once more, "What have you done with the relic!?"

"God damn it, lady! I don't even know what the fuck a relic is!" was all Tiella could muster before she could no longer speak due to the painful twisting and squeezing.

"Glynda," Ozpin called, while not exactly shouting, it had been the loudest his voice had been since this all began.

"Ozpin?" she called, asking worriedly and confusedly, wondering why Ozpin was trying to stop her.

"I don't believe she's an enemy."

"What do you me-"

"She may be a Maiden."

"Wha..." Glynda could only stand in shock of what she'd heard. _"This girl? A Maiden?"_ And due to said shock, she'd inadvertently let go of her hold on Tiella, plopping her down on the ground at an unnatural position, which no doubt sprained some bones.

" _Jesus H-!_ " Tiella yelled in pain, no doubt feeling those sore and sprained limbs especially after landing over them awkwardly.

"I'm still not a hundred percent sure if she is indeed one, however, I'm positive that she's not one of _her_ pawns."

 _"I fucking hate this lady, I swear to god."_ Tiella thought, laying on the floor, panting, feeling for anything broken, for anything worse than the sprain on her shoulders and elbows. _"Nothing broken, good."_

"Alright wise guy. Glad to see that you've decided I'm not your enemy, bu-"

"But that doesn't put you in the clear, no." Ozpin interrupted whatever she was about to say. "I am still not sure whether you're indeed a Maiden, however, your presence here has to lead to a drastic change. Whether for better or for worse, we still don't know. But understand this,"

Ozpin turned to face Tiella, took a knee and brought his face inches away from hers. "right now, you're already _deeply_ involved in our matters." staring intently into her bright golden orbs, and she into his dark brown eyes. He stood, "So don't expect to be let go so easily." and looked behind him, to a door.

"Like I _said_ , I don't even know _what_ you're talking about! So how about _you_ give _me_ some _explanations_ , huh!?" she responded indignantly, not appreciating being spoken to so cryptically and subsequently being ignored.

Glynda had been trying to process what Ozpin meant, however, she could find no reason to see why Tiella was _not_ an enemy, suspicious as she was already. She looked to Ozpin and saw that he had once more turned. She wondered for a bit, then looked beyond him, to where she believed Ozpin was looking.

The door that opens the way to the relic. It had been tampered with.

Where the door was normally glowing a bright green at the top, a dull, cracked sphere, robbed of its light, can be found. Where the locks were constantly interchanging, making sure there was absolutely _no one_ other than a Maiden could open the gate, stood the locks, unmoving. Forced shut as if to keep others out or whatever inside of it.

"The door to the relic's been opened?" Glynda asked incredulously.

"Perhaps. I feel that it's been tampered with. Or worse."

"Worse?"

"The relic was used without our knowing," Ozpin spoke grimly, turning to look at the girl who suddenly appeared out of nowhere once more. Glynda, not knowing what to do, can only do the same.

* * *

 _"Seriously, what the fuck?"_ she thought, ignoring the look she's been getting from the two. She still sat where she fell, unwilling to move just yet, making sure she didn't make her sprains worse than they already were.

 _"First I get fucking dumped to some god knows where, then I meet Mr. Cryptic and Mrs. Needs-To-Get-Fucking-Laid, all the while being twisted and squeezed like I'm some fucking lemon. And I still can't fucking remember what I was doing! I am SO making whoever's responsible for this shit pay."_

While Tiella had been deep in thought, cursing the world, Ozpin walked towards her. "Ms. Tiella?"

"What?" clearly annoyed.

"I believe proper introductions need to be made. You're a suspicious existence at the moment. An enigma, so to speak. And while I don't believe you're one of our enemies-"

"Great!" she interrupted, fully sarcastic.

"-we must make sure that you're our ally." not allowing the interruption to disrupt him from speaking.

Tiella thought things over for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of all possible decisions she could make. _"Should I give them the finger and fuck off? Bad idea, I'll probably get squeezed to death for real this time. What if I fake being allies? Then they find out and I get squeezed, of course. What if I knocked her out first, THEN I fuck off? No, no, that's probably worse. She's the_ _ **assistant**_ _, if someone that annoyingly strong is the assistant, I can only imagine what the Big Boss will be like. And all my tools are still with her, fucking telekinetic bitch."_

Ozpin and Glynda watched as Tiella put her hand over her chin and went into deep thought. They watched as her normally sharp expression turned sharper, as if planning something against them, then softened. They saw this cycle happen a few times until finally, she sighed.

That put Glynda on edge, wary of her going against them. While she's not worried about taking Tiella down, she was still worried about what sort of importance she had in all of this, considering Ozpin mentioned that she may be a possible Maiden.

"Fine. As long as you answer my questions honestly, then I will answer yours too."

Glynda and Ozpin visibly relaxed from her answer.

"I'll go first." Tiella said, "Where am I?"

Glynda was about to answer, but Ozpin motioned for her to let him do the talking.

"You're in Beacon Academy, one of the few Huntsmen Academies in Vale."

"Never heard of it. Who are you?"

At this, they both raised one of their eyebrows. "I am Ozpin, Headmaster to Beacon Academy, and she is Glynda Goodwitch, Deputy Headmistress and Professor in Combat."

"What do these _"huntsmen"_ do exactly?" she asked nonchalantly, an idea formed in her mind based on the name.

Glynda scoffed at the question, while Ozpin simply answered. "We train children to combat the Grimm invasion."

"So you're training child soldiers? Must be a nice place then," she said, arms akimbo and her voice dripping with both sarcasm and venom.

They once more, found her reaction odd.

"Whatever, not my place, not my say. You said something about Grimm?" dismissing their reactions easily.

Ozpin and Glynda gave each other a knowing look, eyebrows raised for the nth time in the conversation. Ozpin then continued to answer as he had, "Yes, these are creatures of darkness, their sole purpose being the extinction of mankind as we know it."

 _"You've gotta be fucking kidding me, right? Or is this another effect of 'his' influence?"_ she thought, thinking back to a certain memory of a powerful aberrant that she and her teammates faced a few times already. "And what do they look like? There a specific look to them or do they all come in all shapes and sizes?" she asked, making sure of her own suspicions.

"Yes to both."

"Explain."

"The Grimm, while easily recognizable by the ungodly darkness of their fur that doesn't reflect light and alabaster bone armor that protects certain parts of their bodies, they come in the form of many different species. Some come in the form of wolves, which we call Beowolves, some in the form of bears, which we call Ursi."

"So they mostly come as wildlife animals?"

"For the most part, yes."

"Okay, so where exactly _is_ Vale?"

At this very question, Ozpin and Glynda shared another look, gears turning in their heads. Glynda unwilling to accept the idea, full on scowled and rolled her eyes away. Ozpin, on the other hand, can only smile wryly at his assistant.

"Vale is one of the four main kingdoms that can be found in the world of Remnant."

"Ha?"

"I believe it's our turn to ask the questions."

"Wai-"

"What is your full name?"

She sighed, knowing she can't really fight back against the questioning. She also expected the question to come, but she still hoped that they wouldn't be asking for her full name as she's not particularly fond of it. She straightened her back, her arms still akimbo, and answered, "My full name is Celestiella V. Margory."

 _"My name just doesn't fit me."_ she thought.

"And you mentioned that you are a Mercenary earlier, correct?"

"Yeah."

"How long have you been a Mercenary?"

"7-8 years, give or take."

"And you're... how old?" already fearing what he was about to hear.

"18."

There was a pause shared between all three of them. Both Ozpin and Glynda clearly uncomfortable at the idea that a young girl barely stepping into her adulthood had already seen so much more than most teens her age should have any right to see.

"Don't," Tiella spoke sharply.

This caught the attention of both adults, seeing the expression on the young girl's face.

"Do _not_ pity me. I don't _need_ it. You can shove your _pity_ where the sun don't shine." she continued vehemently. Then, after a few seconds of silence, she spoke softly, "All of it was my decision."

They both saw the look in Tiella's eyes. And while Ozpin was able to accept it, Glynda however, could not even begin to understand it. _"What could possibly make a 10-year-old choose the path of a mercenary? Under what circumstances?"_ she gave Tiella a scrutinizing look, _"And that expression... what does it mean? Either she's a good actress or..."_

 _"She's acknowledged that the choices she's made won't let her be forgiven so easily, and probably never will. That she's resigned to a fate that would lead to her eventual demise. And yet she still holds the resolve to see it, fight it, all the way through. An unspoken maturity... and naivety that she seems to hold dear."_ were Ozpin's own thoughts.

"Very well," Ozpin responded, breaking Glynda from her own thoughts, and earning a relieved look from Tiella.

 _"It's good that he's willing to let it slide for now. Maybe this old man's not so bad after all? Nah, he's probably just good at manipulating kids. He's the headmaster of a school for child soldiers after all."_ Tiella thought, reminding herself not to trust these people so easily despite the promise to answer honestly, though she can't rightly help but be open even for a bit.

"Where were you the last time you remember?"

"I... Like I said, I can't remember. I've been trying to remember ever since I woke up down here." Tiella said, holding her arms closer to her.

"Go ahead, try to remember. We can wait." giving Glynda a knowing look and placing both his hands on his cane. Glynda only sighed in response, her arms akimbo.

Tiella closed her eyes, trying her damnedest to remember, nearly breaking into a sweat.

"I... I was... with my team. Lillianne and Bardel." she spoke, eyes still forcefully closed.

"And?"

"We were... we were doing something... somewhere."

"What were you doing, and where were you at the time?"

"We were... escorting a group of archaeologists... in Greece... along with some other scientists..."

Both adults listening attentively, _"Greece?"_ wondering what or where it was, wary for any signs of lying.

"We stumbled upon a cave..."

"..."

"And..."

"..."

"And deep inside the cave... we found an... an old _thing_."

"Old thing?"

"A... an antique, probably... a relic, maybe?"

Once more, Ozpin and Glynda both shared a look, then Ozpin looked behind him, towards the door, then back to Tiella.

"And?"

"I think..." Tiella's expression changed slightly, from a forced concentration to a scowl.

"..."

"I think... Bardel, that fucking bastard..."

Ozpin's and Glynda's eyebrows rose slightly from hearing the swearing but listened nonetheless.

"He... like he was cursed to be a clumsy fucking wrecking ball!" her voice going from low to loud in that one sentence, which surprised the two even more.

"Tripped on a goddamned rock, tumbled, then fucking crashed onto me!"

"..."

"Which pushed me towards the fucking thing we found!"

"..."

"Then I hit it the damn thing with my fucking head!"

"..."

"AND GOD DAMN IT THERE WAS A BRIGHT LIGHT!"

"..."

At this point, Tiella fumed. Eyes burned with rage, mouth in a snarl, and hands up as if strangling the air. "AND THEN I WOKE UP HERE! IN THIS FUCKING ROOM! WHERE I WAS FUCKING LOST!"

"..."

"THEN I FOUND A FUCKING ELEVATOR, SO I FINALLY THOUGHT "OH WOWEE AN EXIT AFTER SO LONG!", LIKE THE DUMBASS I AM!"

"Um... Ms. Margo-" Ozpin tried interrupting to calm her down, but she wouldn't have it.

"BUT THE ELEVATOR WOULDN'T FUCKING OPEN UNTIL I SMASHED MY FIST INTO THE DAMN THING!" she slammed her fist into her open palm, mimicking the motion, "FINALLY IT OPENED, SO I STEPPED IN AND THOUGHT I'D REST FOR A WHILE 'CAUSE I WAS FEELING TIRED AS FUCK!" arms waving animatedly.

"THEN WHEN THE ELEVATOR DOORS OPENED, I SAW _YOUR_ FUGLY MUG HAVIN' A _SIP_ FROM A GOD DAMN _MUG_ LIKE IT'S JUST 7 IN THE FUCKING MORNING!" pointing at Ozpin, nearly touching his nose with her finger.

Ozpin blinked his eyes rapidly in response, staring at her finger, unsure how to actually react.

"THEN BLONDIE McHARDASS OVER HERE," she turned, pointing to Glynda with her open palm and continued, "STUCK ME TO A GOD DAMN WALL, SQUEEZED ME LIKE A LEMON MULTIPLE TIMES, TWISTED ME, NEARLY PULLING ME APART, AND ALMOST THREW ME OUT THE GODDAMNED WINDOW!"

Glynda affronted by how she'd been called, for her part, could only look away after hearing the rest of what she had to say about her.

"GOD DAMN IT! THIS IS ALL BARDEL'S FAULT!" By then, Tiella had gone hysterical, shouting to the heavens, the ceiling in this case. "I SWEAR TO GOD YOU'RE GETTING EXTRA ASSHOLES COURTESY OF MY GUNS THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOUR UGLY MUG YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

"..."

A few short moments later, Tiella was breathing heavily after her short outburst.

"Better?" Ozpin asked warily.

Tiella was still visibly breathing hard, though she'd calmed down marginally. "Yes."

"Good. Now, why don't we take this up to my office where we can discuss this further in a calmly, and comfortable manner over a hot cup of coffee?" Ozpin suggested. "Sound good?"

Tiella turned around and spoke in a low, hushed, somewhat embarrassed voice, "Do you have... hot milk?"

"Indeed we do," Ozpin responded with a smile.

"With lots of sugar?"

"You can have as much sugar as you wish."

Her only response then was to nod her head slightly and immediately she went for the elevator, leaving the two behind.

"Well, now. That was something." Ozpin said, a wry smile across his face.

"She has a way with words and names, that's for sure." Glynda deadpanned.

"Reminds you of a certain young girl, doesn't she?" a teasing smile that he aimed at Glynda.

"At that particular moment? No, she knows _far_ more swear words."

"I'm sure that given time, even _you_ would have learned just as many words as she does now if you'd only loosened up, that is."

"Hmph!" was Glynda's only response. Stomping her way towards the elevator where Tiella was hopefully still waiting.

Ozpin stood there for a few seconds with a wry smile on his face. He shook his head after thinking back on what just happened, then made his way to follow the two ladies.

* * *

AN: _Hello again! (I just love Pyrrha's greeting, bless her soul)_

 _I've always wanted to try writing an OC into one of my favorite series. Don't worry though, I'll do my best not to turn it into some power fantasy self-insert!_

 _In all honesty, Tiella is from an original story that is still in the works. I wanted to practice writing her as a person, so I can shape her into a more realistic, consistent character. So in a way, writing her into the RWBY-verse as fanfic is my way of experimenting and/or learning how to write a character's development a little._

 _Let me know if you have questions here in the reviews or you can send em in PMs too, and I'll answer them in another AN. If I *don't* answer your question, rest assured that I'll let the story do the answering for you._

 _Don't eat me alive please, I know some of us are tired of reading about OCs, but that'll never end. Just like the isekai-genre in anime, manga, and light novels._


	2. Chapter 2

"So you're telling me..."

"Yes?"

"...that I'm in another world?"

"Yes."

"..."

"..."

"And... you expect me to believe that?"

Glynda scoffed softly, one eyebrow raised, as if she found it _offensive_ that it was _her_ that didn't believe them this time.

"I don't believe you have a choice," Ozpin said matter-of-factly, and then proceeded to sip from his mug.

Tiella pursed her lips. She sat at a comfortable chair, steaming hot cup of _very sweet_ milk held in both hands. On the chair across her, Glynda sat, a warm cup of tea placed on the table in front of her. And by the Headmaster's desk sat Ozpin, another full mug of coffee in hand.

 _"I can't believe it's actually 7 in the morning... it was 2 in the afternoon last I checked."_

During the elevator ride back to Ozpin's office, Ozpin took the time to explain to Tiella that she may have been from a different world based on their prior conversation. It had come as a surprise to her, so she immediately thought that it was a joke. However, the serious looks on Ozpin and Glynda's faces said otherwise.

 _"Another fucking world? Are you serious?"_ still not entirely sure what to believe. She sipped her milk and placed it down on the table in front of her, then sighed and looked back to Ozpin.

"Anything to make me believe?"

Ozpin placed his mug down and put his hands together in front of him, hiding his mouth from their view.

"For starters, you don't know what Grimm are."

"Well..." she said, letting her eyes roam around, avoiding Ozpin's gaze.

"And I don't believe we've heard of a... _Greece_. If it isn't the thick oily substance that you meant, then I can only imagine that it's a place where you're from."

"You're really not joking?"

"I don't think it's a time for jokes at the moment, so no."

"Do you have a world map that I could borrow?"

"Glynda?" Ozpin addressed, turning his head to face Glynda who had been content to sit quietly until spoken to.

"Of course." she immediately responded and stood from her seat, providing her handheld device to Tiella that was set to display the world map.

"Do you know what this is?" Glynda asked.

"Looks like a new model of a smartphone," Tiella replied, one eyebrow raised, scrutinizing the device.

Glynda hummed in thought, slowly and begrudgingly acknowledging Tiella's nature as an 'otherworlder'.

"This," Glynda raised the device momentarily, "is called a Scroll. It is a communications device that can also provide the user with various things such as-"

"So it's a phone."

"I don't know what that is bu-"

"I mean, it sure _sounds_ like one."

"..."

"Does it have a calculator?"

"Yes."

"Lets you take photos?"

"Yes."

"Do kids spend most of their days fiddling with it until they fry their brains out?"

"..."

"..."

"...yes."

"So it's a smartphone."

"Perhaps in _your_ world, it's the equivalent of... whatever a _smartphone_ is," Glynda explained, clearly annoyed at being interrupted multiple times. "But here, we call it a _Scroll_."

Not wanting to be interrupted again, Glynda immediately placed her Scroll in front of Tiella, tapped the screen a few times, and instantly, a hologram of the world map flashes itself, mildly catching Tiella off guard.

Glynda let a tiny smirk appear on her lips after seeing her reaction, but let it fade away just as easily as it appeared.

"Okay. It's a _really_ hi-tech smartphone." Tiella said, tilting her head left and right, mildly impressed that a small and ultra-thin handheld device is capable of showing holograms of world maps. Glynda, on her end, could only twitch her eyebrow at the comment.

After carefully studying the provided world map, she came to the conclusion that she did not know anything at all about it.

"You _could_ be fucking with me by giving me a fictional world map..." she said softly, only half-convinced of what they're telling her.

"I see." was Ozpin's only reply. He thought for a moment, then stood from his seat and walked over to the large window behind him. He then looked up, as if searching for something.

After a few seconds, "What is the moon like in your world? Can you describe it to me? In detail, please." he said, still looking up outside.

Confused, Tiella took a short moment to think before she answered, "It's round, has a bright yellow light on some days though it's usually just sort of blue on most days, and it's pretty small unless you have a telescope or something."

"Does it look anything like _that?_ " Ozpin said, still looking up, hands on his back, forcing Tiella to join him by the window, confused as she was already.

Looking up, Tiella found nothing out of the ordinary. Just a big blue sky with some normal looking clouds, and a giant fragmented moon. Nothing weird about seeing the moon in the morning.

 _"Wait-"_ mouth agape, she walked closer, toward the window where she nearly placed herself against it.

"Is that... what I think it is..?" eyes wide in shock, she stared at Ozpin, looking for any signs to prove her thoughts to be wrong.

Glynda saw the shock in Tiella's expression and it confused her, sending her a scrutinizing gaze. _"Is there a difference between our moon and theirs?"_

After a short moment, Tiella felt weak in the knees and fell, holding on to the glass window for support, one hand covering her face. Ozpin took a knee and observed how she would further react.

 _"Did someone bomb the moon..? Why would someone bomb the-..."_ her eyes darting left and right in rapid succession, mind racing. _"No. I need to stop ignoring reality."_

Tiella took both hands to her face, head hung low, holding it in resignation. Long and heavy sighs escaped her before she raised her face once more to meet Ozpin's eyes.

"...I really am in another world, huh?"

"I'm afraid so."

Tiella just sat there, staring out the window, at the moon, trying to take in what it _really_ meant to be in another world.

"Why don't we return to our seats?" Ozpin offered along with his hand for Tiella to take for her to stand. "We still have our warm drinks to finish after all."

"Okay."

Still confused, Glynda took the chance to ask incredulously, "Is there a problem with the moon? Is it not normal to see the moon in the mornings where you're from?"

Tiella heard the question but didn't answer immediately. She took Ozpin's hand to stand, then walked over to her seat. She took a big sip of her still hot cup of milk and gently placed it back on the table. "No, we see the moon in the mornings at times too, nothing weird about it."

"Then..?"

"Your moon is broken," she said, nonplussed.

Glynda gave her a look, not understanding what she meant. "The moon has always been broken."

Fearing that their discussion will get derailed, Ozpin spoke before Tiella could respond. "Why don't we discuss this topic for another time? We have more important matters to discuss after all."

Both Tiella and Glynda gave Ozpin a look but agreed nonetheless.

* * *

Ozpin was back on his seat, mug in hand.

Glynda as well returned to her seat and took a small sip of from her teacup.

Tiella was holding her cup of milk with both hands again as if trying to warm her hands through the fingerless tactical gloves she wore.

For a long while, they sat where they were, feeling varying degrees of anxiousness as they focused on downing their drinks. Both Ozpin and Glynda letting the reality of the matter sink, not only for Tiella but for the both of them as well.

A minute later and Ozpin's mug had been emptied. While reaching over to the pot of hot coffee on his desk for a refill, someone finally broke the unnerving silence.

"Can you help me make it back?" Tiella said softly, only staring at her cup with a blank expression.

Ozpin paused for a moment, but easily resumed to refilling his mug. He didn't answer immediately, opting to finish refilling first. "Short answer, no. Not yet at least."

She scowled at her cup after hearing his answer. Angry at the fact that things were far more complicated like she feared it would be. _"Gods fuck me. Nothing's ever fucking easy."_ she thought as she let another one of the very many sighs she felt she would be letting out in her time here.

"And the long answer?" she said, only sending a side glance down Ozpin's way.

"It would be very easy to return you to your world using the power of the relic that we have. However, if the relic that we've been keeping safe and hidden had indeed been used as I feared, accidentally or not, then that would mean we can only use the relic's power once more. And as soon as all of the relic's charges have been used up, it will enter a sort of deep sleep mode in an attempt to recharge itself for the next 100 years. And until that time, it will be nothing more than an antique whose only use is to collect dust."

"And because you said you have enemies, you want to keep as much trump cards as you have for the right time."

"That's right."

"You're basically telling me to stay here. For your war," she said through tightly clenched teeth, her words cut harder and harder as she spoke.

"I can understand that this is a very difficu-"

" _ **Stop,**_ " she spoke sharply, her hands clasped tightly together, visibly shaking as she hung her head low, elbows resting on her knees. "Just... shut up for a bit..." her words cut cold, nearly spine-tingling, even to both adults in the room. "I don't need you patronizing me."

Ozpin did as told, observing Tiella from his desk with that stone-cold look that he usually wore.

Glynda, on the other hand, looked away, arms crossed in front of her. She did not dare look at the young girl across her. Not out of fear of her, no. But to keep herself from pitying the girl any more than she already did.

An actual child soldier, if she were to believe her story, inexperienced with what constitutes a normal childhood, had just been robbed of her life and home. Granted it wasn't anything like the life a teenager should be experiencing, but it was a life that the young girl had grown used to, depressing as it may sound. And even that was ignoring the fact that she had a team, possibly her friends and family in her own world.

Left behind with a very real possibility of never seeing them again.

She understood Ozpin's intentions clearly. Their fight against _'her'_ was a threat that always took precedence over anything no less than possibly world-ending. But it didn't mean that she would not feel guilty for the girl, for she, even if indirectly, was part of why Tiella can't return for better or for worse.

If she ever saw the crumbling form of the young girl directly across her, even she feared that the hard scowl she'd been using as a mask would crumble just as well.

And so she looked passed Ozpin, out the window where the sun was slowly rising along with her worries for the future.

Out the window where a small bird was flying towards them at a seemingly unnatural speed.

 _"There's something wrong with that bird..."_ Glynda thought as she scrutinized said bird.

Seconds later, said bird had doubled in size as it got closer. Then tripled. And in that very moment, Glynda's expression hardened.

"Ozpin!" she yelled, stood to her feet, and entered a battle stance, riding crop in hand.

Ozpin, immediately sensing the tension from his assistant, looked behind him with his cane already in hand.

"Glynda," he called, never taking his eyes off the approaching bird. "I believe now would be a good time to return her weapons."

"I don't think weapons unenhanced by Aura _or_ Dust would do a thing to help her here," Glynda responded while re-positioning her glasses, though she was already returning Tiella's weapons to her nonetheless.

"It's more for her own peace of mind." He said, turning to give Glynda a look and Tiella a reassuring smile.

Tiella, still distraught and only understanding that there is a possible enemy approaching, confusedly received her weapons. She holstered everything save for one pistol, which she held and aimed at what she guessed was the enemy.

 _"A bird? What's so dangerous about a bird?"_ she thought, not really registering the possible size of said approaching bird yet _"I mean, sure it's_ _ **big**_ _but..."_

"Ms. Margory," Ozpin called, "prepare to jump to the side. While I doubt the Giant Nevermore will be able to penetrate the window, it is still better to be cautious."

"Is that..." slowly taking in his words, connecting the dots in her head while observing the so-called Giant Nevermore. "...a Grimm?"

"Yes, it is one of the few common Grimm that can be found within Vale's borders. I'll discuss more about the Grimm with you later, for now, however..." he gave Glynda a look, and easily she obliged, standing ahead of Ozpin where she was closer to the window.

"...we'll let Glynda take care of it."

As soon as Ozpin had finished speaking, Tiella saw Glynda re-positioning her glasses once more while waving her riding crop in midair, not unlike what she did to restrain her. Not a second later, a large purple glowing runic circle appeared, slowly rotating clockwise on the other side of the window.

Mesmerized by the glow as she's able to actually appreciate it now that it wasn't aimed at her, she watched in mild awe as another smaller rune of the same structure appeared, rotating slightly faster and the opposite way in front of the first rune.

The Giant Nevermore was fast approaching, already charging with a loud screech, likely to be just a dozen meters away from them at that moment. And it was then that Tiella understood why it was called a giant and why both adults had been alarmed, albeit mildly in Ozpin's case.

During the Giant Nevermore's charge, another much smaller rune appeared in front of the second rune, rotating the same way as the first rune although at a much faster rate. And as soon as the third rune appeared, each rune spun at even faster rates. During said rotation, the largest rune glowed even brighter, and then the second, and then the third.

Instantly after glowing, a large bright purple light shot out of the center of the first rune, which passed through the second rune, causing it to condense, glowing much brighter as a result. And after passing through the last rune, it had condensed down once more to a thin but highly compressed laser and glowed exponentially stronger than it did at its base, piercing through the Giant Nevermore like it was paper.

The extremely bright laser continued rushing forward, reaching dozens of meters beyond, before fading into nothing just as quick as it had appeared, leaving small, bright purple particles behind that danced and flickered in the air, and blinked out of existence shortly.

Tiella's mouth hung agape, not only did she understand why it was called a Giant Nevermore, given its uncanny likeness to a gigantic crow with its wingspan just barely shorter than an average bus, but also because she'd just witnessed an incredible amount of power being summoned and expelled all within a time span no longer than _four seconds_.

Had she not stood behind Glynda and Ozpin, she likely would have been blinded by the light for a short while.

She watched as the Grimm that had a hole blasted through it split apart and evaporate as if vanishing into thin air. She saw Glynda wave her riding crop in a flourish, twirling it in her fingers, and subsequently collapsing it, then sheathing it back to the holster on her right boot.

Still holding her gun forward, though it had been lowered as she wasn't aiming at anything anymore, a loud "Holy _shit!_ " was everything Tiella could think to say after what she saw.

* * *

 _"Being honest with them was_ _ **probably**_ _the greatest choice of my life. Probably."_ Tiella thought, sincerely believing that _not_ attacking them like she'd been wanting to do since the beginning was a true lifesaver.

"Right..." she drawled, "I've seen some _pretty_ strong Skill Users before but nothing like _that_ ," she said, still awed by what she witnessed. "So, what drew that thing here?"

Glynda and Ozpin both shared a look between them when they heard the term "Skill Users", though they chose to answer her question first.

"Grimm," Ozpin started, "they are creatures that don't need any form of sustenance to continue existing. They can live for an indefinite amount of time, and grow stronger and wiser with age."

Tiella hummed in thought, wondering how that answered her question.

"They will ignore everything around them, uncaring for the plant and animal life that surrounds them."

"Okay," she said, sitting back down to her chair, noting that her hot cup of very sweet milk already warmed down.

"With the exception of mankind," Ozpin stated matter-of-factly, opting to sit down as Tiella and Glynda did.

"Okay?" she drawled, still unsure how that answered her question.

"Now, what attracted the Grimm to this place, to _us_ in particular," Ozpin took a more serious tone as he spoke, "would be _negativity_."

" _Negativity?_ " Tiella repeated in disbelief.

"Negative emotions, to be precise." he clarified. "Emotions such as anger, resentment..." he said while giving Tiella a look, "... _despair_..." then to Glynda "...and _guilt_ ,"

Tiella's eyes widened at his implications while Glynda could only purse her lips and look away, arms crossed in front of her.

"among other similar negative emotions." Ozpin finished, his tone returning to the usual indifference his voice normally carried. He let his words sink, taking the time to grab his mug for a sip.

"Though," he continued, grabbing the attention of both ladies, "this one time was certainly an odd one. I've never seen a lone Grimm purposefully charge into the source of negativity so recklessly, especially since it was within the kingdom's walls."

Ever the fast thinker, Tiella guessed at Ozpin's words, "So you're saying those giant crows don't always just fly above your cities?"

"No, they do not. While young Grimm do tend to be reckless, it is definitely unheard of for any Grimm to enter a kingdom by its lonesome. Even they understand that doing so would end up a fruitless endeavor, just as you had witnessed earlier."

"You saying my little _Pity Party_ was so loud that it just called out to the nearest bastard that felt it?" she asked sharply, hazarding a guess as every oddity so far has been related to her in some way.

"I won't say that that's definitely the case, but it's one of the few reasons that I can think of, yes," Ozpin said, in that ever so stoic expression of his.

She clicked her tongue at his answer and looked away, clearly annoyed. _"Of_ _ **course**_ _it'll be negative fucking emotions..."_ reminded that she herself carried a Skill that was largely related to negative emotions, though it was something she was content to ignore and forget for as long as she doesn't need to use it, even as a last resort. _"Nothing's ever fucking easy."_

"Is that why you're such a stoic bastard? To keep away the Grimm by staying so un-fucking-feeling?" she asked sarcastically.

Not appreciating the sudden verbal assault, Glynda scowled and was about to reprimand Tiella, though before she could...

"Hahahaha!" Ozpin, since the time Tiella met him, and a long time since Glynda last heard, let out an actual laugh. It wasn't a loud laugh, no, but it was a very audible laugh, one that he did not bother to hide. A small smile can be seen on his face, and shortly after his laugh, he wore a wry smile.

"You're not wrong, but it's mostly due to my advanced age." giving Glynda a look that told her that it was fine. "When you reach my age, it becomes hard to be surprised at a lot of things anymore. And that is especially true considering my previous profession as a full-time huntsman and current position as Headmaster."

"Makes sense."

"Which reminds me of our current situation."

At this, Tiella tensed, suddenly remembering that she had no way of returning unless provided by Ozpin.

"I understand very well what it's like to lose a home you can never return to," Ozpin said, a melancholic tone heard in his voice. "I've also experienced what it's like to lose people very dear to me and being forced to acknowledge that I'll never see them again."

He stared intently at her eyes and spoke sincerely, "So I urge you to believe me when I say that I understand."

Glynda's expression softened when she saw the look Ozpin gave to Tiella, reminding her of an earlier time when she knew very little of the man before him.

Tiella can only stare back at Ozpin, searching his eyes for any signs that he was lying or simply patronizing. A short moment later, she broke the silence.

"I'll... be willing to hear you out, at least." arms crossed and close to her person. "Not like I can do anything else, anyway."

"Thank you for trusting me."

"I'm not."

Ozpin can only wryly smile at her. He looked at her figure, arms crossed protectively in front of her, eyes downcast and looking away.

"Very well. Glynda?" he called, "Why don't you go ahead and prepare for your class? And also, do take care of our little situation from before. I'm sure some of our students are feeling a little uneasy about the fact that a Giant Nevermore nearly crashed itself into the school."

Taking it as her cue to give them some privacy, Glynda obliged. "Of course. Have a good day, Professor."

"Thank you, you as well," he said as Glynda bowed her head just outside the room before closing the door.

Tiella remembered that she still had a half-finished cup of _warm_ milk, so immediately she grabbed her cup and took many small sips. Milk always _did_ help her relax, reminding her of a more peaceful, innocent time.

"So? What do you want?"

"I'd like to offer you a scholarship here in Beaco-"

"And be one of your child soldiers? No fucking thanks, please." immediately she interrupted, her anger returning to her.

"Please, do hear me out. I'm afraid that you're misunderstanding what it means to be a Huntsman in this world."

She eyed him critically, thinking back on their past discussions so far. "Fine."

He smiled, glad to see that she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"But make it quick, I'm tired of listening to you speaking so vaguely."

"Of course." he wondered, how many times was she going to force a wry smile on his face?

"Simply speaking, a huntsman is a person looked up to by the people. Defenders of mankind against the darkness that is the Grimm."

"You're saying it like they're heroes."

"It's an apt description, yes."

Tiella, for her part, can only scratch her head in response. "I guess it makes sense to want to see heroes in action if you have black furry cunts wanting to annihilate you and your entire race for feeling sad about ice cream that fell on the pavement."

Another wry smile, "Will you accept then?"

"No." was her immediate answer.

"May I ask why?"

"Two things." she held one finger up, "One, I'm a professional, _not_ a hero." then she held a second finger up, "And two, I _hate_ kids."

"Are you not fairly young yourself? 18 is still just barely stepping into adulthood after all. And I'm sure you'll find people your age here as well."

"Still no."

"May I know the _real_ reason then?"

"..."

"..."

"Fine..." she sighed out, actually embarrassed about the fact, "I've... never had a formal education," she said, eyebrows scrunched together, eyes avoiding Ozpin's gaze.

"I see."

"Yeah, yeah, now you know."

"All the more reason for me to offer you the scholarship."

"Really? Can't you just, I dunno, take no for an answer? That's never gonna make you popular with the ladies, you know?"

He sighed, "Under normal circumstances, I would have taken your first answer easily, as I wish to respect people's choices for the matter." he saw Tiella giving him an angry, pouting look, which he found somewhat adorable despite her sharp eyes.

"Yeah, yeah..." already tired of not having her way.

"I'm truly sorry, but I feel that I must have you near me at the very least."

"You want me on a short leash."

Ozpin didn't answer immediately.

Tiella again weighed the pros and cons of her possible decisions in her mind, _"If I keep saying no, he'll probably force me into staying here as a last resort, blackmail or something, maybe threaten me into submitting. But I just..._ _ **really**_ _don't want to play chummy with a bunch of weaponized horny teens. Is there really no other way? What if I pushed my luck for a bit?"_

She sighed once more, scratching her head before speaking. "I won't accept a scholarship. I don't want to be a student," she gave Ozpin a hard look. "I've learned to make do just fine by getting hired for odd jobs. Bodyguard _this_ , escort _that_ , kill _this_ particular bastard, kill _that_ particular bastard. The works."

While Ozpin's expression hadn't changed, he certainly felt uncomfortable to be reminded that this girl claimed to be a Mercenary.

"So!" she said loudly to break the unnerving stare she got from him just then, "If you want me to stay while still respecting my _so-called wishes_ , why don't you just hire me to do odd jobs for you?" her hand outstretched, her making the offer instead, "That way, I can make a living while you keep me here, tied to you like you want, but without me playing chummy with your kids."

Ozpin looked at her hand, then back to her eyes. Eyes clouded by anxiety.

"If you're willing to accept this..." she continued, "if you're willing to hire me for a job..." she swallowed thickly, "then I'll be... _willing_ to play your game." she finished in a low voice.

 _"Everywhere I go, it's my only use."_

Immediately she perked up, "Nothing sexual though!" she said, putting up a casual front and continued, "If you're _that_ itchy, I'm sure there'll be a red light district here and there for you to visit." she said, giving Ozpin a wink and a casual smile.

Ozpin continued to stare at her intently for a few moments longer, a stoic expression betraying none of his thoughts.

"Very well." he finally spoke, "Why don't I hire you as a helper among my Professors? As it is, I'm currently a little understaffed, an example being my assistant, Glynda, handling all Combat classes for all year levels."

"Wow, no wonder she looks like that."

"Yes," he spoke wryly, "well, I would appreciate it greatly if you can make things easier for my Professors by handling some of their smaller matters."

She thought things over for a short moment, sipping her milk that's gone from warm to lukewarm. "Alright, sounds like something I can do. What about my pay?"

"How much do you usually take?"

"Where I come from, I take no smaller than $50,000 per job."

"Dollars...? My apologies, I'm not familiar with this currency. The currency we use here is Lien." he explained, "Taking the number you provided, a 50,000 Lien monthly salary would put you in the upper middle class, all things considered, such as food, housing, and monthly bills for a family of 5, for starters."

"Just about the same then," she said

"I see," Ozpin said, deep in thought. "What if I provided you with free boarding, food, and other daily necessities for free and a 30,000 Lien monthly salary?"

Tiella hummed in thought, _"It's not_ _ **that**_ _bad an offer... but it's a little low compared to what I'm used_ to." she sipped, _"Though the big difference here is it's actual stable income."_

"This, of course, does not include the more... hazardous jobs I will likely put you through."

"Oh?" eyebrow raised.

"Yes, if you are indeed a Mercenary like you claim, it would be a waste to let your skills rust away. I may have to ask you to join some of my _own_ private operations." he finished, one eyebrow raised.

"Right, you said you had enemies."

"That I do."

They were quiet for a moment, Ozpin letting Tiella think things through, taking small sips of his coffee in between.

In Tiella's mind, the implications of her fighting possible Skill Users like Glynda lit a small fire in her heart. _"I get to continue my training for an_ _ **actual**_ _reason, even here. Very interesting."_

She stood, taking the cup of lukewarm milk with her and downed the remaining milk in one swig, leaving a faint white mustache just above her lips before licking them away. She then walked over to Ozpin's desk and extended her hand.

"You've got yourself a deal."

Ozpin smiled at her answer. He stood as well and reached to shake on it.

"I'm very pleased to have you on board, Ms. Margory."

" _'Ms. Margory'?_ Come on, please, no. Ms. Margory was my sister. Tiella is fine."

Ozpin blinked a few times at her implications and gave her a knowing smile. "Very well," they shook hands, sealing the deal, "I'm very pleased to be working with you, Tiella."

"Likewise."

Letting go after one good shake, Ozpin spoke, "For the moment, we currently have no accommodations available for another live-in staff member, so I hope you don't mind living in the student dorms for your first few days."

"Not like I have a choice, do I?"

He gave her another wry smile, "Sadly."

Ozpin checked the time, which was 8:17 am, and immediately called for Glynda on his Scroll.

And not a second longer,

[How may I help you, Professor?] Glynda's voice could be heard.

"Yes, could you show Tiella to one of the vacant student dorm rooms? I've offered her a job." Giving Tiella another look. Noticing the exhausted look on her face and posture. "I'll have another staff member look for proper accommodations for her, but in the meantime, I'd like for her to rest in one of the student dorm rooms."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"Glynda?"

[...of course, Professor. I'll be there in a minute.]

"Thank you, Glynda. That would be all." and disconnected. "Glynda should be here shortly to show you to your room. I'm sure that you're tired, so, please. Do take the day off. I'll have you start tomorrow."

"Okay..." she drawled, exhaustion nearly taking over, "What about my papers? I didn't exactly exist here until an hour ago."

"You don't have to worry about it, I'll take care of everything."

"That's handy."

A knock on the door was heard.

"Ah, yes. That should be Glynda." he said, "Come in." he spoke in a slightly louder voice.

"Good morning, Professor Ozpin, Tiella." Glynda greeted courteously, bowing at them both. "I've found that room 312 by the West Wing Dormitory is currently unoccupied."

"Wonderful."

"Very well," Glynda said. She bowed to Ozpin once more and faced Tiella, her expression the very picture of professionalism, "If you would please follow me, I will show you to your room." already turning around, out of the room.

"Umm... thanks?" Tiella said, feeling a little awkward after everything so far. "Oh! And,"

Glynda paused and looked back, waiting for Tiella to continue.

"I'm sorry for calling you Blondie McHardass."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"None taken." the face of professionalism never breaking, "Let us move along, please. I still have a few classes to prepare for today and I'm already behind schedule." turning around once more, she lead the way out.

Not wanting to be left behind, Tiella hurriedly followed but stopped by the door to address Ozpin. "Also, I'm sorry I called your face fugly, Headmaster!" she said loudly, then shut the door immediately.

Inside the room, Ozpin stood still behind his desk, staring at the closed door, eyes blinking multiple times, and thinking about what a morning it had been. From where he was, he faintly heard Tiella asking Glynda a few questions. Now that he was alone, he fished out a strong bottle of Tequila that he'd been hiding behind one of his desk drawers and added a very generous amount into his coffee, spiking it to the high heavens.

In his own personal opinion, it was going to be a more interesting year from what he first thought with Ruby joining early, but that didn't mean he would _not_ be stressed about it.

* * *

"So..." Tiella started.

"..."

"Today's a school day?"

"As you can obviously see, yes," Glynda responded, re-positioning her glasses correctly.

"What day is it? Actually, no. What's the full date today?" Tiella asked. _"Wow, I never thought I'd be asking that. Even as a joke."_

Glynda paused and turned to face Tiella's casual smile with her own professional look. "It is the 14th day of the 5th month, 1215 AD."

Tiella hummed in thought. _"It was December 6th, 2018 for me just a couple hours ago. God this is so fucking disorienting."_

"How many months do you have in a year?"

"12. We have 365 days a year, all year round." Glynda turned, leading the way once more.

"Almost the same with ours then," Tiella said, holding her chin in thought. "So what's AD stand for? After Death?"

"After Dawn." Glynda corrected, "It marks the dawn of mankind. The beginning of our fight against the Grimm."

"Hmm, poetic."

They were quiet for a moment, so Tiella let her eyes wander around.

She saw students going to and fro, giving Glynda a short greeting as they passed and her a look before returning to what they were doing and where they were going.

She also saw students with animal accessories. _"Are bunny ears a thing around here?"_ she thought, watching a brunette with long bunny ears on her head walking through the beautiful courtyard. _"Looks oddly realistic. I guess a more advanced technology means better cosmetics."_

Another short while later, Glynda finally stopped.

"This here will be your room. Room 312 of the West Wing Dormitory. Please do not forget that."

"Alright."

"And here are your keys." which Tiella graciously accepted.

"Do you have any other questions?" Glynda asked, just realizing that the young girl she'd been talking to was meeting her at eye level, thinking that she likely would have been an inch taller if it weren't for her own heels.

"Yeah, where do I go if I have other questions?"

"There is a staff room on the first floor of this building. Head down there and turn left when facing the exit. A sign should be visible. Staff members are always present there but if you don't find anyone, head to the main building and look for me. I'll be in the Combat classroom."

"Great."

"Will that be all?"

"Are you still mad that I called you Blondie McHa-"

"If that is all then I'll be taking my leave." Glynda hurriedly turned, interrupting Tiella. "I have classes to prepare for and it is only the 2nd day of the school week."

Tiella could only purse her lips at Glynda as she watched her walk away. _"Damn. Guess she's not used to disrespect, huh?"_

Not feeling like standing in the hallways any longer, she keyed the door to her temporary room and stepped in, immediately plopping herself on the nearest bed. _"Four beds, huh. Whatever."_

She let out a long and heavy sigh, letting exhaustion finally take over, face covered by her forearm. _"What a day... and it's not even over. Maybe if I sleep, I'll wake up in the tent with those fucking idiots."_

Still feeling a tad uncomfortable, she groggily removed her weapons and threw them on the other bed.

 _"I'm sure they'll be fine without me."_ she thought, trying to convince herself that they don't need her back there, more than anything.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Are people still with me?_

 _I know, I know. The calendar system is a *little* lazy._

 _Okay, I lied. It's very lazy. But I just couldn't think of a reason why I shouldn't just do it that way!_

 _What about the very short fight scene? If you could even call it that. Was it too vague? Too wordy?_

 _Do let me know!_


	3. Chapter 3

AN: _Warning! This chapter will be a little bit of an info-dump._

* * *

 _"This little lassie here's name's Tiella. She'll be joining our little Merc group."_

 _Gramps..?_

 _"Now, why don't ye go on ahead an' introduce yerself. Don't worry, they won't bite."_

 _Gramps... I thought you were dead._

 _"My name's Tiella..."_

 _Wait a second... I'm not the one speaking... A dream? A memory?_

 _"...and I wanna be a Mursenery like Gramps!"_

 _"Ah'm still young, y'know!"_

 _Is this me...? No, was this me?_

 _"Wow, you're like,_ _ **really**_ _bad at this. We're the same age but you_ _ **suck**_ _at hand to hand."_

 _Karen?_

 _"Shut up! Again!"_

 _Heh... I always was a sore loser._

 _"What the heck? You can't even hit a target just a mile away?"_

 _Talk big, Karen. Talk big. You always were the best shot around the camp._

 _"Hey now, it's okay. You don't need those chumps. Why don't we go back to training? I know beating you down always cheers me up."_

 _Pfft... God, Karen you're such an ass._

 _"Chelly, ma'girl. Listen to me close, 'kay?"_

 _What? Gramps? Where's Karen? What the hell is happening?_

 _"We don't have a lotta time left, so ya gotta listen close, okay? Tell me you're listenin'."_

 _Stop._

 _"I know I promised to teach y'all 'bout bein' a Merc and makin' ye the best there is but..."_

 _No. I don't wanna hear it!_

 _"Ya gotta understand that..."_

 _Gramps! Just shut up! Stop talking! You're coughing up blood!_

 _"Sure is-.. ugh... sure is getting hard to speak, eh? Lemme jus' siddown right 'ere."_

 _I told you to shut up!_

 _"Ya gotta understand... Ah know ah promised to make ya the best merc in the world, but..."_

 _God damn it, old man!_

 _"Ya gotta understand... this ain't the only life available to ye... ya got that?"_

 _We've talked about this, old man! You don't get to decide for me!_

 _"Alrighty? Did ye get that? Did ye hear what I said...?"_

 _"Y-Yes..."_

 _"Good lassie... Now, why don't ye go on ahead and join Karen? Ah'm sure she's worryin' her butt off not knowin' where ye are."_

 _"B-But what about you..?"_

 _"Oh don't you worry 'bout that, lassie. I'll handle it. Always have."_

 _"Okay..."_

 _No, you idiot! Don't just go fuckin' okayin' when it's not! Go back!_

 _"I'll see ye'nna bit, just need to rest for a while. Closin' ma' eyes for a quick sec'."_

 _Don't close your eyes you stupid, stupid old man!_

 _"Hey there!"_

 _What? Where the hell am I this time?_

 _"You! Miss Tall, Cool, and Broody!"_

 _Bardel?_

 _"Owww...! Damn, you're one slippery bitch."_

 _That's what you get for picking a fight with everyone and everything, you little shit._

 _"Hello."_

 _Lillianne?_

 _"You were moving so well! I started doubting that you're actually my age. Where did you learn to do that?"_

 _"...self-taught."_

 _"That's amazing! I noticed that that boy had unnatural physical strength and speed. Must be his Skill, don't you think?"_

 _"Doesn't matter if it won't hit."_

 _"That's true but... those weren't exactly easy to dodge. And I never noticed you using yours."_

 _"I don't have one. And all his moves were telephone punches, just get out of the way and you'll be fine."_

 _"Ahahaha, that's easier said than done... could you spar with me too? I'd love to learn with you."_

 _"Fine."_

 _..._

 _"Geez, Tielle! You're all bruised up again! You have to be careful. Look, sit here, let me patch you up."_

 _"It's just training, Karen. Nothing to get so worked up about."_

 _"A splintered fist?"_

 _"..."_

 _"Your knuckles are still bleeding."_

 _"..."_

 _"And why do you have a bullet hole on your arm?"_

 _"Thanks, 'Mom', but I'll be fine since I have your 'Magic Fingers' to keep me alive."_

 _"I just find it worrying that you're using my Healing Skill as an excuse to push yourself like a maniac!"_

 _"..."_

 _"When was the last time you didn't spend your day off on training?"_

 _"Well..."_

 _"That's what I thought. No more training for you for the rest of the week!"_

 _"...fine."_

 _..._

 _"Tiella!"_

 _..._

 _"Tielle!"_

 _..._

 _"Celeste, my little star. Why don't you join Mommy and Daddy? Let's watch your favorite movie, it's your turn to choose on family night."_

 _..._

 _"Hey little sis, come on. Your milk's getting cold."_

 _..._

 _"Sitting on Daddy's lap again? Alright, alright. Daddy's gotcha. You're such a spoiled Daddy's girl."_

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

* * *

The gentle breeze entered through the open window, softly blowing on the curtains.

A warm beam of sunlight was hitting Tiella's face long enough to rustle her awake.

"...Mommy..."

Groggily, she opened her eyes, blinded by the light that's been hitting her face. Instinctively, she moved her face away, into the shade provided by the walls.

Still on the bed, she blinked her eyes multiple times, blinking the drowsiness away. She sat upright and touched the side of her face.

Tears?

 _"It's been a while since that happened."_

"Where...? Ah, right. Another world." she said after checking her surroundings. Then she checked the time, the wall clock showing that it was 2:08 pm. She stood, not bothering to wipe her tears away and walked to where she believed the bathroom was.

 _"Good to see I have my own shower."_ she thought, walking towards the sink. She opened the faucet and stood there watching, listening, letting the water flow noisily.

She lowered herself, hands on the sides of the sink, head hung low, and sniffed. She quietly let her tears flow freely as she breathed softly.

For a short while, only the sound of running water can be heard in her room.

Moments later, she washed her face thoroughly. Cool water splashed on her face, courtesy of her hands. Once she's done, she raised her head and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Messy, red hair almost covered her gold eyes, her bed hair always did give her a messy mane. Eyes that were only faintly red at the lids.

She stripped, starting with her Kevlar vest that she opened at the front, then her finger-less tactical gloves. She unbuckled her belt, letting it drop to the shower floor tiles, and unbuttoned her white dress shirt. She sat on the side of the tub and slipped out of her combat boots, unbuckling them first before kicking them off. Her socks were the next to go, followed by her dark tight-fitting military pants that she tucked inside her combat boots.

She stripped off the rest of her clothing, her dress shirt, and sports undies, and stood under the shower head.

She turned it on, cold water raining all over her head, slowly dripping down her long, loose, twin braided hair that reached down to her butt, and she removed her hair ties, throwing them toward the sink.

She raised her head and let the cold water splash on her face for a long while to wake her from the warmth that kept her drowsy.

"Now then... what can I do today?" she asked herself as she turned the shower head off. She searched the room, looking for a dry towel, which luckily was just hanging over one of the hooks on the wall.

She grabbed the towel, briskly drying herself off, starting from her hair, then went down from there. She checked the closet to see if there were available clothes for her to borrow after stepping out of the bathroom. The good news was there was a small selection for her to choose from, the bad news was that the clothes were the school issued uniforms that she saw the students wearing.

She took a pair of the men's issued pants that were close to her size, the men's issued dress shirt, socks, but still went for her own combat boots. She stood in front of the full body mirror on the closet door and gave herself a once-over. She contemplated wearing the necktie but decided against it, leaving the top two buttons of her shirt open. Afterward, she rolled her sleeves to just above her elbows, showing off her lithe and toned forearms.

 _"Not bad."_ she thought, satisfied at her impromptu smart-casual look, she took her hair ties from the sink and did her still slightly damp hair back to a loose twin braid. She gave herself another once-over after doing her hair, then she remembered to grab her gloves to wear.

She checked the clock: 2:35 pm. _"Should I even bring my phone? Whatever, I'll take it. No way to tell the time otherwise."_ she pocketed her phone and keys and walked out her room, deciding to explore the grounds of her new workplace.

 _"Right, where to go fi-"_ her internal monologue was interrupted by a loud growl. In fact, it was so loud that even the nearby students heard it and gave her weird looks. She can only keep a straight face as she blushed, ignoring the looks sent her way. She stiffly hurried away from the hall and went to the first floor in a speed walk. _"Cafeteria it is."_

At the first floor, Tiella went to the nearest student she found and walked over. "Hey kid!" she called out.

A boy with blonde hair and was almost a head shorter than she turned to look for the source of the voice. "Yeah, you!"

Moments later, he found a tall woman waving at him and lightly jogging his way. Confused, he pointed to himself to make sure it really was him that she was calling. "Yes, you," she said as soon as she was standing in front of him.

"I, uh, how may I help you? Ma'am?" he asked, a little nervous that he was speaking to a tall woman who he assumed was a staff member.

"Pfft, _'ma'am'?_ Yeah, no. Name's Tiella." she said, amused at the boy's reaction. "Anyway, I'm new here and I was wondering where the cafeteria is."

"Oh, uh, okay. Tiella." he blinked a couple of times, "Why don't I lead the way?"

"Great! So, I'm not keeping you from anything, _Mr..?_ " she drawled.

"Oh! Uh, right! The name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, _ladies love it!_ "

Tiella, for her part, only looked at the boy called Jaune in amusement, one eyebrow raised.

"W-Why don't we go on ahead? And no, you're not really keeping me from anything. I was just heading there myself."

Tiella hummed in response. "So what year are you in, Jaune? And do you always try to pick up any girl that comes talking to you?"

"I-I'm uh, a 1st year. And, well, I-..."

"What are you gonna do if I end up teaching one of your classes?" she said teasingly.

Jaune's eyes widened and cold sweat formed on the back of his neck.

"I'm just messing with you, chill. I'm a new hire, but I can tell you that I'm not gonna be a professor at least."

Jaune could only let out a dry chuckle after a sigh of relief in response. They walked in silence for a short moment, Tiella was content with it though Jaune felt awkward all the while.

"By the way, Jaune," she called, not really noticing Jaune's slight unease. "is the food in the cafeteria free?"

"Yeah, we don't really have to pay for it. We can just eat whenever we want as long as it's within curfew." he continued, "Pretty generous of them to do that actually, since some of us can eat a whole family's worth after a long day."

"Yeah? How about schoolwork? Nothing too hard? Professors aren't driving you nuts?"

"Nah, not really. I have a little trouble catching up myself, but most of my classmates don't have a problem with it like I do."

She hummed in thought, withdrawing her idea that they were being trained like actual child soldiers. _"Looks like they're able to take it easy like normal kids after all. Almost makes me jealous. Almost."_

Not a moment longer, they reached the front door to the cafeteria.

"That's a big door."

"That's what I thought so too."

"Alright, great. Thanks for showing the way, Jaune. You going to meet up with your friends?"

"Uh, yeah! Yeah..."

"Guess we split here. I'll see ya around, bub." and off she went, not bothering to wait for Jaune's response.

* * *

 _"Thank Oum, she wasn't a professor."_ Jaune thought while walking over to the table where his friends were at.

"There he is!" Nora called as she was the first to see Jaune come close to their table.

At the long table, his team was sitting in the order of Pyrrha, Nora, then Ren with vacant space to Pyrrha's right. And across the same table, Team RWBY could be found as well. Weiss, Ruby, Yang, and Blake in that particular order. All of whom were just starting to dig into their lunch.

Pyrrha put down her spoon to greet Jaune as he sat next to her. Ren was trying to eat his own lunch while at the same time stopping Nora from feeding him too many pancakes.

Weiss was focused on eating her meal, the picture of elegance and grace. Ruby was wolfing down her own meal, likely so she could get to eating her dessert as soon as she could. Blake was holding a fish taco on one hand and a book on the other. Yang was chewing on an apple and was listening to Team JNPR's conversation.

"Something held you up? Here, your food's still warm." Pyrrha asked, ever the doting partner.

"Yeah, but it wasn't much."

" _Wasn't much?_ " Yang chimed in, "I just saw you walk in with a tall redhead bombshell and it _wasn't Pyrrha!_ "

"Wha-" Jaune stuttered.

"Yan-" Pyrrha reacted and nearly spat out her drink.

Yang's team gave her various looks. Ruby was confused, Weiss deadpanned, and Blake just side glanced.

"What? I'm not joking!" Yang said, defending herself. "Look there."

She pointed to where they would order their food from and the entire table occupants followed.

"Is that the one?" Ruby asked, pointing to a girl holding a tray filled with what she believed was hamburgers, sliders, and hotdogs.

Weiss saw her as well, though her expression was that of indifference. _"She's quite tall. And that's a lot of carbs."_

"She _is_ tall," Blake commented nonchalantly after seeing the girl for herself.

"Wow! Do you guys think she's taller than Goodwitch?" Nora chimed in.

"It's a possibility," Ren responded.

" _See?_ " Yang said, smirk proudly plastered on her face.

They watched said girl turn her head a few times, likely in search of a vacant spot. A few seconds later, Yang had a thought.

"Hey Jaune!" she called, "Why don't you try inviting her here? We've got space."

"Uh, well... sure, I guess? If it's okay with you guys?" he said as he looked around, finding non-verbal agreement from his friends.

"Grea-"

"Ow, that hurts!"

Whatever Yang was going to say had been interrupted when they all heard the pained yell of a girl just a few tables away. They also heard the sound of boys laughing, which they saw was at her expense.

"Please, stop..." the girl nearly cried.

Everyone at the table was fuming, even Weiss who still tried to keep her cool expression. Nora energetically suggested breaking his legs, while Blake was glaring at the boys with pure indignation.

"I told you it was real." one of the boys said while pulling on said girl's rabbit ears.

"What a freak." another one commented.

The boy was about to let go of the poor girl's rabbit ears but was interrupted,

"Hey, boys! Mind if I join?" by a sudden smash to his head that instantly knocked him out.

* * *

 _Going back a few minutes ago..._

 _"Could they be any louder?"_ Tiella thought to herself.

Just a short moment after she split from Jaune, she heard the sound of a girl yelling and it made her turn her head to look. She saw that the loud girl was addressing Jaune.

 _"His friends, then?"_ and whether she liked it or not, their rather energetic conversation can be heard even from her side of the cafeteria. So she was a little curious about what about her they were talking about.

 _"Whatever, I just hope they don't get me caught up in their noise."_

She tried to ignore the loud kids and made her order. "Hey there, I'll have this cheeseburger, this slider, and this hotdog. 2 of each."

The cafeteria lady looked at her oddly but nonetheless prepared her order. "Any drinks?"

"Oh right, I'll have a glass of iced water and a tall glass of sweet milk, thanks," she said giving the lady a casual smile. The cafeteria lady just sent her odd looks though, but still did as ordered.

"Here ya go."

"Right, thanks!"

As soon as she got everything balanced on her tray, she turned around and walked slowly, looking for a vacant seat. She noticed that Jaune's table of friends was looking at her but she just ignored them. She also noticed that Jaune's table had a few good vacant spots but still searched for any seat that was closer to where she stood.

"Ow, that hurts!"

 _"That's one way to tell everyone you're a cunt."_ She thought as she watched the bullying that was happening with a nonchalant look. _"What the hell? Those weren't accessories? No one told me there'd be animal-people here."_ she hummed in thought. She'll have to ask Glynda about it later.

She watched the scene a little longer and felt absolutely no pity for the girl. _"I thought this was a warrior school. Guess you'll find girls like that everywhere you go."_

She was going to ignore what was happening, thinking that it was none of her business what these horny kids did with their lives, but she just remembered that she was just very recently hired.

 _"Maybe it's my business after all?"_ she thought and walked over to a table and placed all her food there. Ignoring the angry and confused looks she received from the table occupants, she said, "Don't touch em, alright? I'll be right back."

 _"And I'm still a little pissed that I couldn't get back at Glynda. This should be good."_

She walked off, tray spinning atop her finger, and went for the direction of the bullying.

"Please, stop..." the poor girl said, nearly in tears.

Soon as she was behind the boys, she tossed her tray in the air and caught their attention, "Hey boys! Mind if I join?" she spoke, tone quite casual.

As soon as she finished speaking, she caught her tray, held it with both hands and swung at the back of the bully's head, as if she was playing baseball, knocking the boy almost instantly.

"What the-?"

"Whoah!"

"You wanna bully?" she spoke, tone still casual. "I'll show you _bullying,_ " she smirked.

She grabbed the unconscious boy by his left arm and pulled him up with all her strength. Once the boy was in the air, she spun him around, much as a pizza maker would to pizza dough, and started swinging at the other boys that had been laughing at the girl with said unconscious boy.

"Come on! Come on!" she yelled in pure glee, "Show me what you got you fucking tykes!"

"Shit! Let Cardin go, you crazy bitch!"

The other boys, unprepared for the sudden assault, couldn't even defend themselves in time as they got hit by their friend multiple times.

She hit the boy with the Mohawk hard enough to send him skidding across the floor which made Tiella laugh maniacally. "THIS IS HOW YOU BULLY SOMEONE, YOU FUCKING AMATEURS!" and continued doing so all the while hitting their heads with another head, even ramming another boy in the face with said head. "GET ON MY LEVEL YOU FILTHY SACKS OF SHIT!"

She continued swinging said unconscious boy for another few seconds before noticing that all the other boys were already unconscious or just groaning on the floor unable to move. She shrugged her shoulders and put the boy she'd been swinging on her shoulder like an invalid, then threw him on the floor like a sack of rice.

"Well," she spoke, dusting her gloves off. She noticed that everyone in the entire cafeteria was looking at her and that some _'Scrolls'_ were out in the open, pointed at her. It was likely that they were capturing the scene for posterity. "that was good while it lasted."

She heard a few chuckles from the students in the background, but other than that, most of them were just staring in shock or wide-eyed anticipation of what she would be doing next. She eyed the rabbit girl who was on the floor a couple of meters away from her, then checked the unconscious boy for any serious injuries.

 _"Oh, I popped his shoulder off. Nice."_ she thought after copping his shoulder to feel for any dislocation, which there was. _"Should be an easy fix."_ She sat the boy upright, his unhurt shoulder leaning on the table. She clasped her hands together tightly and immediately she hammered the unconscious boy's shoulder back into place. A loud popping sound resounded in the mostly quiet dining hall.

A distant _"Oh my god!"_ was heard before a plopping sound of clinking tableware followed after.

"There we go, good as new," she said, mostly to herself, unaware that she'd just unnerved most of the student body in her immediate vicinity. She also checked the boy's head for any blood, which thankfully was not there, odd as it was for her.

Tiella stood, admiring her work, and walked over to the bunny girl. As soon as she stood in front of her, she offered a hand to help her up, which the girl graciously accepted.

"Thank yo-"

Tiella then pulled the girl into her more forcefully, bringing the girl's face past hers, just above her own shoulder and spoke in a very low whisper, the casual and gleeful tone that she had earlier had gone and disappeared, replaced by a lower, colder, and harsher tone that sent the girl's spine-tingling.

"From what I understand, this is a warrior school," she said, eyes sharply looking beyond the girl. "No one's going to take you seriously if you keep taking shit like _that_ from _assholes_ like _those_."

Tiella pulled back, moving away from the girl, with a casual smile back on her face. She extended her hand and spoke, "My name's Tiella, a new hire."

And the surrounding students bubbled into low murmurs, spreading gossip of a new hire, a possible new professor, or maybe even a member of Beacon Security.

The girl was still in shock of what she'd heard from her just then, wondering if the voice she heard was really from the girl who was speaking to her. "T-Thank you... I'm... I'm Velvet." and Velvet shook the hand that was extended demurely.

"Well, Velvet," Tiella let go of her hand after one firm shake. "I'll be going now. I'm very hungry. I also won't be helping you next time, so... see ya."

Velvet watched as the new hire, Tiella, walked back to a table with her tray in hand, retrieving what she believed was her food, and then headed outside the cafeteria.

* * *

"Holy _crap_ , Jaune! Seriously, who was that!?"

Yang was the first to break their table's silence after watching the spectacle from before. The rabbit girl was still standing where she was, staring at the door Tiella'd used to leave.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled, giving her big sister a disapproving look for swearing.

"Sorry, Ruby but that was just, _SO_ awesome!"

"H-Huh?" Jaune said after being shaken from his reverie by Yang. "R-Right, she said she was a new hire."

"So she's a professor!?" Nora chimed in, clearly excited at the thought that someone so _'badass'_ was going to be teaching their classes. "Oh, I wonder if she's a new combat instructor? She's gonna be so great, and I'm so excited, and Cardin really, _really,_ _ **really**_ got what was coming for him!"

"Nora, please," Ren said, trying to get Nora to calm down, which doesn't usually work.

"And look!" she continued, both arms presenting the scene before them, "I didn't have to break his legs! She already broke him _for_ you!"

And instantly the entire table remembered the loud popping sound from before that sent shivers down their spine.

Shaking himself off the shivering, Jaune corrected her. "No, Nora. She said that she was a new hire but that she wasn't going to be a professor."

"Oh..." Nora said, visibly deflated. "But she could also be Beacon's new Head of Security! That would be _SO_ awesome too!"

"Well, she never really said what her job was but I guess that's probably it?" Jaune said, returning to his own meal.

"How come you know all this?" Pyrrha asked, a little curious how Jaune learned about the girl.

Jaune swallowed his food before he spoke, "I was just heading this way from the dorms until she called out to me from behind and asked where the cafeteria was. I said I'd just lead her here since it's where I was going, anyway. We sort of just talked on the way here to pass the time."

"Well whatever her job is gonna be, I already like her!" Yang chimed, happy about a new staff member that wasn't so boring in her books. "And it looks like she's close to our age!" she said before taking another bite off her apple. "Though she's probably a little older than us."

"That's true, I wonder where she went off?" Blake asked, more to herself, though everybody on the table heard it.

" _Oh?_ What's this? Did our Blakey find a new crush in the form of a tall redhead that isn't Pyrrha?" Yang teased, earning a little glare from her partner. "Why not Pyrrha, hmm? Do you like em _taaaaller?_ "

"No, Yang. Just wondering." decidedly ignoring Yang's teasing with all her might.

Pyrrha, for her part, only smiled wryly and scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

"It's okay, Blake. I understand." Yang gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "No need to feel guilty about it, we can tell that she's pretty hot even from here. Right, Weiss?"

"Don't you _dare_ bring me into this, Xiao Long." Weiss quickly replied.

"Aaawe is Wittle Weissy jealous because she has rivals?"

"I will _**stab**_ you."

"Any time, Weiss. _Any time._ " and Yang sent her a wink. "Though I'd prefer it more if we're... _alone_."

"You're _insufferable!_ " Weiss said in frustration, nearly yelling.

"Yaaang! Stop teasing my partner!" Ruby chimed in while elbowing her sister lightly on the side.

"Okay, okay," Yang said, finally relenting.

Shortly after, they shared a good laugh and returned to finish their meals.

"She really _IS_ pretty hot though," Yang said after taking her last bite of her apple. "Did you say she called out to you from behind while you were still at the dorms?"

* * *

Tiella was in front of her room, holding her tray filled with meat and buns, and her drinks, with one hand. She held one burger in her mouth and used her free hand to fetch her keys to open the door.

Upon entering, she tossed the keys to a nearby desk and plopped down on the nearest bed and placed the tray beside her, just barely spilling her drinks.

 _"I wonder if I did too much."_ she thought, done with the burgers and already homing in on the sliders. _"Eh, probably not. It's a warrior school."_

She brought her tray closer to the window where she sat at and gazed at the scenery from her third storey window.

 _"The place looks nice, gotta say. When I thought that this was a warrior school, I expected large training fields with shit tonnes of equipment all around the courtyard or something. Didn't think it'd be some castle in the sky, fountains and statues and all that fancy shit."_

She reached for her tray for another, but couldn't grab anything. She looked back on her tray and found that only a lone hotdog was left of her food and that it was on the far side of the tray. _"Pretty good stuff all in all. I might like it here."_

She continued gazing outside, contemplating once more on what it means to be here for her.

 _"They probably won't care if I'm gone, will they?"_

She glugged her ice cold water down fast, then grabbed her tall glass of milk and sipped it sparingly.

 _"I mean, if you take away Bardel's clumsiness, he'd be pretty reliable. If you ignore his temper at least."_

Sip.

 _"And he has Lillianne with him. She can pretty much take care of everything. She's only the most talented person I know anyway, though a little naive and inexperienced."_

Sip.

 _"I bet if you gave her enough time, she'd be a literal jack of all trades, master of all."_

Sip.

 _"Even considering the state of the entire goddamn planet, what with everyone trying to one-up each other with their fucking Skills. It's like one of those Dystopias Karen loves reading about."_

She sighed. "Skills... huh?"

"I wonder..." she said softly, _"I never liked my Skill, and probably never will, but..."_

Sip.

Knock, knock.

 _"...but what if it's because I rarely use it that I lack the control over it..."_

Sip.

Knock, knock, knock.

 _"...which ended up leaking out just enough to attract one of em my way during my little pity party?"_

Sip.

"Maybe I should tell Ozpin about it?"

"Tell Ozpin what, exactly?"

"Gah!" Tiella turned sharply, nearly spilling her half empty glass of milk. There she saw Glynda, arms crossed in front of her, scowl on her face.

"Professor Goodwitch! Jesus Christ, don't you know how to knock?"

"I did. 5 times, in fact."

"O-Oh. Sorry about that, I was just thinking..."

"I can see that."

"Well, whatever. What'd you need me for?"

"I heard about the incident in the cafeteria earlier."

"Am I in trouble?"

Glynda's immediate response was to re-position her glasses, answering a short while later. "Is there something still troubling you?"

"Huh?" Tiella asked, a little dumbfounded that Glynda of all people would possibly show concern. "Is that concern for me I'm hearing from you?" she asked teasingly.

"Just answer."

"No jokes, gotcha."

Tiella looked back outside, below where the students walked under the shade of the trees. She heard the door shut behind Glynda.

"Just thinking about my old team."

"I see," Glynda said. Still standing by the door, she asked, "Your team... can you tell me more about them?"

Tiella turned her head to face Glynda and saw a look in her eyes, dropping the mask she normally wore.

"I guess you're actually concerned, huh? Thanks."

"For better or for worse, you're our-.. _my_ ally now." Glynda started, "So it's only natural that I try to understand you, even if only for a little bit."

Tiella smiled at the thought, taking another small sip of her milk.

"Sure, I can tell you about them. Why don't you take a seat? Choose the bed or the chair, I don't really care, just sit."

She heard the sound of the chair legs lightly scraping against the floor and returned to watching the outside.

"Let's see... where do I start?"

"What was your team like?"

"What were we like?" she thought back, "Well, in a word..."

"..."

"Reckless."

"Reckless?"

"Yup." popping the 'p' sound at the end. "We were a trio and we would always argue. Always trying to one-up each other during our missions. Each one acting like the team leader. So you can imagine the kind of trouble we could have easily avoided by thinking rationally and acting like an actual team."

"Stupid, more like."

"Hahaha! You're right! We _were_ pretty goddamned stupid."

"..."

"Bardel, the guy that put me here, really _is_ just a clumsy fuck. So, while I'm really honestly angry at him, I can't rightly blame him for it. Not 100% at least."

"..."

"He would always charge in without thinking—moving without stopping for a second to even _think_ about the consequences. There was this one time he straight up sent a man flying through a thick brick wall because—as he tried to explain—he _'felt a really fucking strong urge to stay alive!'_."

"..."

"Sure the man wasn't exactly _human_ but—holy shit, if it actually had been a civilian man? That'd have been a whole other world of problems."

"He sounds like a handful."

"He's also a loud pain in the ass." she sipped. "But he's always the first to arrive when someone requests back up. Always ready for a fight, always raring to go... And always had my back at the right moments."

"I see... what about your other teammate?"

"Lillianne? She's probably the most gifted human being I've ever known to date. This includes all the possible geniuses in my world's history."

"Truly?"

"Mmhmm." she sipped, "She was a _fast_ learner. What a master learned in a year she could learn in a week. What said master perfected in his lifetime, she perfected in _6 months._ "

"That's... preposterous."

"I know, I wouldn't believe it too if I didn't know her personally... and even then, she wasn't using her own personal Skill."

"Skill?"

"Yup. It's a little similar to that power of yours. Though, like I said before, I've never seen anything so extravagant and flashy like that laser you shot out."

"I see."

"How did you do it anyway? I thought your Skill was telekinesis or something, but then you pull off that laser shit outta nowhere."

"Well, you're right about it being Telekinesis. I did it by collecting a large amount of the surrounding air into one point and coated it in my Aura—hence, the glowing. Then, I used glyphs to manipulate it further, compressing it after every layer passed through while adding spin to raise its temperature significantly before shooting it out like a plasma cannon."

"That's so fucking _metal._ "

"I... umm... thank you?"

"What's Aura, by the way? I heard you mention it a few times before. And dust, I think? Is dust here also different from what I think it is?"

Glynda didn't answer immediately, thinking deep in thought. Tiella was content with waiting, sipping on her glass of milk.

"Aura is the manifestation of our Soul. It is an outward projection that protects the body from harm. It can enhance our physical capabilities exponentially and can heal some fatal wounds that should leave any normal man crippled for life in months at most."

"Wow... and everyone here has that?"

"There are varying degrees to the amount of each person's Aura, but yes. And that is only the basics."

"Oh, so, there's more to it?" Tiella turned her body to face Glynda directly, a sure sign that she was clearly interested.

"Yes. Once an individual has reached a certain mastery over their Aura, along with various other circumstances, their Semblance can be unlocked."

"Semblance?"

"Yes. In simpler words, it is a technique unique to the individual. Some Semblances can make a person become so blindingly fast that it is practically no different from short distance teleportation. However, there are cases where a Semblance can be passed down through a family."

"So in rare cases, they can be hereditary? Sounds nifty."

"Indeed."

"You said something about various circumstances?"

"Correct, not everyone shared the same conditions when unlocking their Semblance. Some would be under extreme pressure at the time, some would be one foot into death's door already, some would be under extreme emotional circumstances."

"Sounds like it's very... _extreme_ , you could say."

"Yes, yes."

"Hahaha!" Tiella laughed, not expecting Glynda to react to a joke at all, dumb as it was. "By the by, not that I'm hating your company and all but are you sure it's fine for you to be staying with me for so long? Finished with your school work?"

"Yes, I've finished most of my work for today, and I'm currently on my 2-hour break, until my next class. Which should be in... a little under an hour."

"That's good to know."

"May I ask you a question?"

"You already have, haven't you?"

"...yes."

"So, shoot."

"What is this "Skill" you keep mentioning. Is it something like a Semblance?"

"Hmm..." Tiella paused and held her chin in thought, not really sure how to clearly explain it. "It's... sort of like a Semblance? But probably also a lot different? I guess?"

"You're not sure?"

"Yeah, well, Skills weren't really a thing up until 8 months ago where I was from. They just… suddenly popped up from one person to another and fucked the whole world up in all possible angles you can think of."

"That's... hard to imagine."

"I know, my head hurts just thinking about it."

"What are Skills like?"

"It's different from person to person just like a Semblance in that sense. An example would be Bardel's Skill."

"Bardel's?"

"Yup. His physical strength and speed shoot up like a fucking rocket, making him capable of throwing a bus one-handed like it was weightless."

"That's quite amazing."

"Yeah, it is. It has its drawbacks, though. From what I can remember, the strength he gets is directly proportional to his _'motivation to win'_ , or so our scientists said."

"Odd."

"It is. There's also the drawback that he turns into a vegetable the more strength he draws. He once slept like a log for a week after using his Skill so much."

"So, it's not always so good to draw too much."

"Yup."

"What about you?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you have a Skill too?"

Tiella paused and swallowed thickly. This was the moment of truth for her. Revealing the possible nature of her Skill to Glynda would lead to Ozpin knowing. And it could make or break what they do with her here.

"I..."

"Ms. Margory?"

 _"Should I be just honest like I always have with them? Would they even be willing to understand?"_

Glynda saw Tiella breaking into a cold sweat with a very tense expression on her face. _"Is there something she's not willing to tell us?"_

"I..."

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Thank you for the wonderful feedback! I know I've already replied to you earlier, but I'd like to say thanks again. You know who you are!_

 _I did feel like the small fight scene with the Nevermore was a little too wordy and redundant, but I wasn't sure how exactly to fix it._

 _Now then, questions..._

 _Were Teams RWBY and JNPR out of character? Were they a little bland?_

 _What about Tiella and Glynda's heart to heart talk? I tried to cut down on action words and added more on dialogue to express a sort of quiet, serene tone. I was actually listening to Vague Hope (Cold Rain) on repeat the entire time I was writing, which I felt fit the scenes nicely, particularly the more serious scenes._

 _Also, I'm very glad to see that some of you are liking my story so far._

 _So! Any thoughts you have, don't hold back and let me know._

 _Except for flames. Flames and Spam. Please don't flamerino and spamerino._


	4. Chapter 4

AN: _Chapter 3 updated but it didn't go to the front page even hours after I uploaded... bummer._

 _Whatever, here's the next chapter._

* * *

 _[THIS IS HOW YOU BULLY SOMEONE, YOU FUCKING AMATEURS!]_

 _[Gah!]_

 _[My back!]_

 _[GET ON MY LEVEL YOU FILTHY SACKS OF SHIT!]_

"The new girl just..."

"...beat some students..."

"...with another student?"

"What?"

"Professor Goodwitch, where did you find this girl?"

The professors were taking their break in the main building's staff room and had been watching a live feed of the happenings in the cafeteria through a scroll. Professor Peach had been the first to notice what was happening, starting from the bullying of the Faunus girl. As soon as she saw the new girl walk up from behind with an empty tray, she called the other professors' attention and was surprised to see how she struck the bully's head, instantly knocking him out.

"Uh... guys, I think she just popped back the poor boy's dislocated arm in place with a hammer fist."

"That was certainly an unnerving sound."

"Professor Goodwitch?"

Glynda was watching the feed with a deadpanned stare. _"It's not even her actual first day yet and she's already made a name for herself among the students."_

Glynda sighed after seeing Tiella leave the building and answered, "She is Celestiella V. Margory, but she prefers to be called Tiella by everyone. And according to Ozpin, she's the daughter of a distant relative of his. She came from the more dangerous parts of Atlas and wanted to find work here in Vale, so Ozpin offered her a position as our assistant." hoping to tell Ozpin to play along with her version of Tiella's impromptu backstory later on.

" _Our_ assistant? What do you mean exactly?" Professor Port asked, very curious about the girl who looked no older than half of their students.

"In other words, Ozpin proposed that she work here to help us, the professors, with our smaller tasks." Glynda further clarified. "You're free to ask her to join you in your Grimm hunts to capture live Grimm for your classes," she said as she looked at Port.

"You're also free to ask her to be your assistant in your shorter expeditions." giving Dr. Oobleck a look.

"And even to be an... _"assistant"_ in one of your Dust experiments." and finally, to Peach.

Collective Oohs and Aahs were heard, glad to know that they can finally ask someone for help with their matters and were very excited to put her to work already.

"However," Glynda cut through their minor celebration with a more serious tone. "I believe that you all must know that she's an actual professional already. She is a mercenary with at least 7 years under her belt, _not_ a huntress-in-training. So, do remember not to treat her like our students." she said as she re-positioned her glasses.

"A mercenary?" Port asked.

"7 years?" Peach repeated, a little worried about. "Just how old is she, Professor?"

"She's 18," Glynda spoke calmly though she couldn't completely stop herself from sounding uncomfortable from the fact. "And I feel that her true profession should be kept from the students. They simply don't need to know." she finished.

"I see..." Peach said, uneasy about the new girl's supposed history.

"That certainly explains the sharp tongue," Port commented, arms akimbo.

"Nonetheless! I'm sure I can find a lot of work for her just lying around in my office!" Dr. Oobleck chimed in.

Seeing the somewhat worried look on Glynda's face, "We'll be sure to treat her like a comrade, Glynda." Port spoke up, reassuring her that they won't be so quick to judge. "Any ally of Ozpin is an ally of mine as well! I say we give her a warm welcome!" he finished in his usual friendly and boisterous manner.

A sigh escaped Glynda, relieved to see that her co-workers were willing to work with Tiella, though she never truly doubted.

"Professors, I'll be speaking to Ms. Margory about this incident, have a good day."

"Thank you, Professor, you as well." was Peach's reply.

As Glynda stepped out and shut the door behind her,

"I wonder how well she can hold her liquor?" was what she heard from one of the professors, likely Port, and all she could do was shake her head in an attempt to shake off her worries.

* * *

Glynda stood in front of Tiella's temporary room, checking the number to confirm if she got it right. She knocked twice and waited a few seconds for an answer. Hearing nothing, she knocked an additional three times and waited a little longer. Wondering if she was even in the room in the first place, she handled the doorknob and gave it a small twist, a little surprised to see that it was unlocked.

She opened the door slightly and peeped to see if anyone was inside.

 _So she's here after all._

There she saw Tiella sitting by the window, food tray on one of the beds close to her. She was looking outside below and was surprised to see that Tiella had a solemn look on her face, sipping milk.

 _I suppose maturity came to her as experience, not as age as most people normally would. Just what is she thinking of?_

 _"Maybe I should tell Ozpin about it?"_ she heard her say to herself.

 _"Tell Ozpin what, exactly?"_

 _..._

 _"Hahaha! You're right! We_ _ **were**_ _pretty god damned stupid."_

 _It's surprising... I didn't expect a somewhat pleasant conversation with her of all people._

 _..._

 _"What about you?"_

 _"Hmm?"_

 _"Do you have a Skill too?"_

* * *

"Ms. Margory?" Glynda called out once more after seeing the unease in Tiella's expression. _"What are you hiding..?"_

"You're going to tell Ozpin too, aren't you?" Tiella asked, anxious eyes downcast, as if ashamed of what she was holding in. _"If I lied to her now, it's likely that she'll know instantly."_

"...that's right," Glynda spoke, the scowl she normally wore returning.

"I..." Tiella's eyes darted around the room as if searching for a way to escape. "...I do," she said before pursing her lips, still not meeting Glynda in the eyes.

"Can you tell me?"

"I can't."

"And why is that?" Glynda asked, a sharp look on her face. "You've been fairly honest with us so far. Is there a personal reason you can't tell me, tell anyone?"

"...yes."

"I see."

There was silence between them for a long time. Glynda was contemplating what to do, and what possible reason she could think of as to why Tiella was so unwilling to spill.

Only the ambient sound of the wind blowing at the nearby trees and the students below could be heard by either of them. More minutes passed until someone spoke, breaking the silence.

"Is that the reason for the Giant Nevermore's attack this morning?" Glynda spoke coldly while re-positioning her glasses.

Tiella, for her part, could not immediately speak. She swallowed hard and thickly. "It's what I think so too, yes," she said, eyes still downcast.

"I see." was Glynda's only reply. _"In short, there's a very real possibility of her being a safety hazard to everyone at Beacon if that's truly the case."_

Tiella heard the sound of chair legs slightly scraping the wooden floor followed by sounds of footsteps that came closer and closer.

"What exactly _is_ your Skill?" she heard Glynda ask, not really seeing her expression as her eyes were still on the floor. She was quiet for a short time before finally speaking.

"It's..." she spoke and licked her lips in anxiousness. She then shook her head once and continued, "It's the ability to weaken, draining them of their strength and stamina."

Tiella did not see, but Glynda's eyes widened at the thought of an incredibly powerful asset to Ozpin's side of the war. But then she also remembered that Skills had drawbacks, unlike Semblances, as well.

So she asked, "And it's drawbacks?"

"The effects grow stronger the more I hate."

They were both quiet for a moment before once more Tiella continued.

"I've never used it willingly and I only ever used it twice," she spoke, head hung low. "The first time was when I first received it 8 months ago. I left my entire mercenary group passed out for days at our headquarters. Every single one of them was very weak. I had to nurse them all back to health for the entire duration, all 7 of them. I couldn't control it... and I was very confused."

"..."

"I remember being angry at the time. I wanted so badly to retrieve Gramps' dog tag, but the guys wouldn't let me. Telling me that I'll never find it under all the rubble."

"..."

"So I hated it. I hated them from trying to stop me, and I hated myself even more for leaving Gramps behind."

"..."

"The second time was around 4 months after I left my merc group."

"..."

"I was with my old team, Lillianne and Bardel, and we were scouting the ruins of an old castle keep hidden deep within a dense forest to make sure it was safe for the archaeologists to explore without a lot of worries. That was when and where the story I told you about Bardel happened."

"I remember."

"Right, so after sending the man flying, he stood back up like nothing happened, then he chases after us. Probably to kill us for attacking him unprovoked or something, I still don't know."

"..."

"We tried to fight back of course, but that... that _monster_... he just wouldn't stay down! I used everything I had, all my ammo, all my 'nades, I went as far as hand to hand as soon as I realized throwing things at him wouldn't work. All the tactics I could think of. Nothing. The bastard just... he didn't even have a scratch on him!"

"..."

"During the fight, Lillianne got heavily injured. She had a hole that went right through her left chest, just slightly above her heart. She also had deep punctures on her stomach and a ton of cuts on her limbs. Not to mention bruises all over."

"..."

"Then Bardel. The bastard..." she spoke, dry chuckling at the memory. "He kept going at him. He shattered his fists up to his _god damned forearms_ trying _so hard_ to just knock him out. When that didn't work, he tried with his legs. Luckily he didn't have the time to break them because he was sent flying by an uppercut that shattered his jaw and instantly knocked him unconscious."

"..."

"So... what was I supposed to do? Let my team die? I'm a professional, if word came out that I'm the type of gal that can let her teammates die just to save her own ass spread, I'd have a harder time finding work just about anywhere."

"..."

"Anyway, I was the most lightly injured, just a bloody face with a hole or 2 on the abdomen, and a sprained ankle, nothing too restraining. The only thing I could think to do to get all of us out of there alive was to ask Lillianne to carry Bardel and run as far away as she can to leave the fucking monster to me..."

"You didn't want them to get caught up in the effects of your Skill."

"I didn't, so I bought time. Enough for them to get far. And after that, I let loose, not knowing any other way to use it."

"...what happened?"

She scoffed at her memory, "I got him weak enough after exposing him to my Skill for _hours_. When it came to a point where he couldn't even move a finger, I threw him down the even more destroyed ruins, then collapsed the entire thing on him with the rest of my explosives, I doubted that it would kill him, but I hoped that it would be enough to keep him down long enough for us to leave. After that, we won and we lived."

"...but?"

"Yeah... but." Tiella finally raised her head to meet Glynda's eyes. "At what cost, right?"

Glynda saw Tiella's broken expression and her hard scowl nearly melted away.

"All the nearby plants and animals were an inch to their _fucking_ deaths." she spat. "But what do I care about some crummy plants and animals? No, I don't give a shit about them. Never have, never will."

"..."

"What I care about is what this... this fucking _'power'_ makes of me!"

"..."

"Don't you see!?" Tiella stood and yelled, emotional as she was with tears welling in her eyes, grabbing Glynda by the shoulders who did nothing to stop her. "I already lost my home too many times already! So when I heard that those fucking Grimm assholes were attracted to _negativity_ in this new world I'm _forced_ to stay in like it was God's idea of god awful _prank_ , I got fucking scared!"

Her hands were trembling as she held on to Glynda's shoulders. She hung her head again, "I got scared, thinking... 'what if those guys got attracted to me, because I couldn't control my stinking _curse_ and leaked out a bit just 'cause I was a little emotional?' and that you'll leave me alone after finding out..."

Glynda could say nothing. She could only stare back at the distraught child, carefully holding on to her, as if for dear life.

"What kind of _sick cunt_ _**am**_ _**I**_ to be _'gifted'_ such a Skill by _the fucking Gods?_ "

No one spoke for a while inside the room and nothing could be heard. Nothing but the sound of Tiella's quiet sobbing was heard.

 _"Why must you cry like this?"_ Glynda thought as she held the broken girl in her arms and pulled her closer. Solemnly, she looked outside her window. _"As if you're not allowed to?"_

They stood holding each other for a long time and unbeknownst to them, sometime soon after Tiella'd begun yelling, one of the room's walls had grown ears.

* * *

— _ **3:16 pm, Room 312, West Wing Dormitory**_

"...I'm sorry you had to see that," Tiella said still sobering up from inside the bathroom where running water could be heard.

"It was certainly quite the sight. I never expected something like _that_ from _you_ of all people." Glynda said, sitting back on her chair from before.

"Wha-" she spoke hurriedly and peeked from the door of the bathroom, eyeing Glynda critically, eyes quite red at the lids and a little puffed as well. "Are you _actually_ teasing me?"

"Perhaps," Glynda replied, sending Tiella the tiniest of her smirks.

"I'm not even mad." she said, "Honestly, I thought you didn't have it in you."

"Because I'm Blondie McHardass?" Glynda asked, one eyebrow raised.

" _Yyyyeees...?_ " Tiella said, unsurely nodding her head and avoiding eye contact, not knowing how to react.

"I'll have you know that I was once a child _too_ , Ms. Margory."

Tiella gasped exaggeratedly, " _You too?_ "

"Why, yes. Me too." Glynda replied, giving Tiella her own cheeky smile.

They looked at each other for a few seconds then both erupted in laughter, Tiella being a little louder. After the good laugh, Tiella went back inside the bathroom to wash her face one last time before turning the faucet off.

"Thanks," she said softly, but still audible enough for Glynda to hear from the other room.

"I've said so before. You're _my_ ally now. You'll find more as you spend your time here in Beacon, that I can assure you." Glynda said while looking at the open bathroom door. "I've also had my fair share of distraught children bawling their eyes out, you know? I am both an educator and a huntress, after all."

"You're never gonna let me live that down are you?"

"No, I don't believe I will," Glynda said smugly.

"Don't you have a class to teach, _Professor?_ "

"Why, yes I do."

"Wouldn't want our _esteemed educator_ and _Huntress_ to be late and set a bad example now, would we?"

Glynda chuckled, it's been a while since she last remembered to be in a good, lighthearted mood. She checked her wristwatch for the time: 3:22 pm. She still had a little over 30 minutes until her next class, but she understood well enough where Tiella was getting at.

"No, no we don't," she replied curtly.

"So, get going!" Tiella peeked from the bathroom door once more and stuck out her tongue.

Glynda put her hands on her thighs and stood. "Very well," she said, the smile still on her face. She walked towards the door then called out to Tiella once more, her expression softened. "I'll be speaking with Ozpin about you later on."

"Okay." was all Glynda heard from Tiella who was back to being inside the bathroom.

"And Ms. Margory?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember, you're my ally now. You don't have to worry about us leaving you alone. About _me_ leaving you alone."

There was a pause for a bit until Tiella spoke again. "It's Tiella."

"Hmm?"

"Call me Tiella. And I'll call you Glynda."

"Very well then, Tiella. Have a good day." and Glynda left the room, shutting the door behind her.

As soon as Tiella heard the door shut, she let out a small sigh of relief. _"Oh thank Lady Luck."_

She thought back to what just happened and couldn't help but turn red as a tomato in embarrassment. _"What the_ _ **fuck**_ _did I just do!?"_ she screamed internally, hiding her face from no one in particular with both her hands.

 _"Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my gooood! I can't believe I let out to some hot milf I met just this morning!"_ she sighed and facepalmed hard. She thought back to Glynda's teasing smile and turned even redder. _"And she's never gonna let me live it down!"_

"This is worse than the time I got drunk at a strip joint. Oh my god..."

Not knowing what to do for the rest of the day, she chose to stay in her room, doing nothing.

* * *

"Hey, Yang! Where've you been?" Ruby asked as soon as she saw her sister come into their room.

Most of Team RWBY was spending the rest of their afternoon inside their dorm with each member doing different things. Ruby was on one of the desks doing her homework with Weiss sitting next to her, going over her own notes. Blake was laying on her bed sideways, reading another one of her novels.

"Just... around," Yang said absentmindedly.

Catching the unusual lack of enthusiasm from their normally boisterous teammate, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake stopped what they were doing immediately and gave Yang various looks.

Ruby stood from her seat and hurriedly walked up to Yang to take her hand gently with both hands worriedly. "Yang?" Ruby said, gentle as she could. "You know you can talk to us about anything."

Blake also walked over and put a reassuring hand over Yang's shoulder. "I'm your partner, you can tell me too."

Weiss, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes and resumed to focusing on her notes as she already understood what Ruby and Blake were trying to do.

"Guys?" Yang spoke incredulously, "Am I getting punked?" looking between Ruby and Blake disbelievingly. "Weiss, you're not recording this, are you?"

"Pfft, hahaha!" Ruby was first to break the joke, shortly followed by a lightly chuckling Blake. Weiss only shook her head slightly while, again, rolling her eyes at her team's shenanigans.

"Ha ha. Very funny." Yang said dryly. She lightly pushed herself forward and sat on Blake's bed, already knowing that Blake didn't mind.

"So, what's up sis?" Ruby asked once more, standing in front of her sister, "Got something on your mind?" she continued. Blake sat beside Yang and didn't speak but she was already waiting for Yang to start talking.

"Oh, it's just something I heard, not really sure if I should believe it or not," Yang said dismissively.

"So it's just gossip?" Ruby asked.

"It wouldn't be simple gossip if it got you thinking hard like that." Blake chimed in.

"You saying I don't normally think things through?" Yang looked at Blake sharply.

"Whoops?" was all Blake said, a small smug smile on her face.

"Is this how you're getting back at me for teasing you at lunch?"

Blake didn't answer. She only smugged further.

"Hahaha!" was all Yang could respond with. "But seriously though, I'm not even sure if it's something to talk about. I don't wanna go spreading lies if I can help it." she gave her sister and partner a beaming, reassuring smile.

"Alright, Yang." Ruby easily relented. "So where were you?" she asked, already going back to her seat beside Weiss.

"I went looking for tall, red, and badass in the dorms."

"Pyrrha's just across the hall." Blake chimed in.

"The _other_ tall, red, and badass." Yang corrected, though she knew that Blake was joking. "The new girl!"

"How are you even sure that she's here in the first place?" Blake questioned.

"Jaune said she stopped him from behind right as he was about to leave the dorms, so I figured 'Eh, she's probably here too.' or something."

"I wonder what her weapon's like." Ruby chimed in, wondering about what possible name it could have as well.

"We don't even know her name and you're already looking for her weapon?" Blake said in response.

"I- uh- well- I- uh-"

"Leave it to Ruby to be more excited about a person's weapon than the person in question." Yang teased further.

"Yaaaaaaang!" Ruby whined from her seat, earning a quick, light tap on the shoulder from Weiss to remind her to keep quiet.

Blake and Yang gave her a light chuckle. "We're just teasing, Ruby," Yang said.

"So, did you find her?" Blake asked.

"I knew you were interested in her, too!" Yang said, now it was her turn to wear a smug smile.

Blake's only response was to stare back at her partner quietly in disdain. Yang simply turned even smugger.

They had a stare-off for a short while but feeling that it was a losing battle, Blake sighed. "Yes. I am."

"I knew it."

"Whatever." Blake wondered how it was possible for Yang to reach such smug levels.

"And I bet Ice Queen is too."

"You don't even _exist_ to me right now, Xiao Long."

" _Harsh._ " Yang faked being hurt by her words, holding her hand to her chest but laughed shortly afterward. "Well, whatever," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Anyway, I did find her. _And_ get this."

Yang moved her face closer to her partner, "Her room is in 312."

"The one near the end of the hall?" Ruby asked.

"Yep." Yang said, popping the 'p' sound.

Blake only hummed in thought. _"She's quite close."_ she asked further, "How do you know this?"

"I saw Goodwitch walk out of her room by chance earlier," Yang said.

"I don't understand how that makes sen-"

"With a _smile_ on her face." she continued, interrupting Blake's further questioning.

"What?" -Blake

"What." -Ruby

"What?" -Weiss

"Yep." popping the 'p' louder, a little surprised that she managed to catch Weiss's attention which caused her smug aura to ooze out by the gallons.

"W-Wait!" Ruby chimed, "I mean, how does Professor Goodwitch _smiling_ make that the new girl's room?"

"Because I've only ever seen Goodwitch stand outside a student's room to chew them out."

"Good point," Ruby said, very easily believing her sister.

"What do you think Goodwitch was doing with her back there, then?" Blake asked, not really understanding how Goodwitch's smile being a perfectly good reason to believe what Yang was saying.

"I'unno? Probably talking to her about what she did back in the cafeteria."

"Probably."

"Anyway!" Yang clapped her hands loudly, catching everyone's attention once more, much to Weiss's disdain. "Blake!" she called out, a smile never leaving her face.

Blake gave her one raised eyebrow in response, already fearing what Yang was going to say. "Wanna _Smash_ before dinner?" a large salacious grin plastered on her face.

"Yang Xiao Long, you pig! _Have you no shame!?_ At least wait until you two are alone!" Weiss immediately yelled, red in the face.

Blake stared in disbelief, letting Yang's words sink in. " _What._ "

"Oooooh! Can I join?" Ruby asked excitedly, earning a double _"What!?"_ from both Blake and Weiss, who were both flushed in the face, leaving Yang doubled over trying not to laugh too hard.

* * *

— _ **8:14 pm, Headmaster's Office**_

"I see. So, she really was the cause, as we suspected?" Ozpin said, trying to clarify Glynda's report about her talk with Tiella.

Ozpin was standing by the window, looking down on Beacon's courtyard, mug in hand. Glynda was standing at the front of his desk where she told him what she learned about Tiella and her world.

"It's what she believes, as well," she spoke, a cool expression on her face.

"I see." Ozpin mused, "While the conditions for use are certainly dangerous, the results may be just enough to more than make up for it, as long as she uses them at the correct time and place." he commented, already thinking up various ways and situations where Tiella's skill would be most effective with minimal losses for them.

"Ozpin, are we truly inviting her to our fight against _her?_ " Glynda asked, worried for the girl's fate, arms crossed in front.

"You know me well enough to understand that I won't as long as I don't have to," he responded, giving her a soft look.

"You're right, I'm sorry." she looked away in response, "I suppose I'm just worried. It hasn't been a day and she's already made a name for herself, as I'm sure you've seen."

"Yes, I have," he replied, remembering the scene with Tiella in the cafeteria in amusement.

"And what of the relic? Did we find anything?" Glynda asked, remembering where it all began.

"The door is still sealed. So unless I find a Maiden to open it, I would have no way of knowing for sure."

"I see." Glynda spoke, "By the way, Ozpin."

"Yes?" he turned to face her.

"I also wish to speak with you about Tiella's papers."

"The daughter of a distant relative who grew up in the dangerous parts of Atlas, was it?" Ozpin mused, retrieving the papers he prepared for Tiella that was on his desk. It definitely needed a revision. A protege from Vacuo was definitely far from his assistant's version, and it was certainly a better one too.

"Yes. My apologies, but the other professors were curious about her and it was the most logical ruse that I could think of on the spot." Glynda explained, her cool expression back on her face.

"I see," he said, sipping from his mug once more. "This certainly adds more work but it's nothing I can't handle easily. Will there be anything else?" he asked, one eyebrow raised at Glynda.

"Have you spoken with Qrow and Ironwood about her?"

"Not yet, but I will. I was waiting to hear more of Tiella, which you delivered just in time," he said, giving Glynda a small gracious smile.

"I see." Glynda said, "In that case, there is nothing more."

"Hmm." he nodded in agreement, "Very well, you're dismissed for the night. Thank you for your work, Glynda."

"Of course. Goodnight, Ozpin," she replied as she stood by the door before bowing her head slightly.

"Goodnight, Glynda."

Ozpin returned to Tiella's papers and began revising them. He also sent a message for Qrow to return as soon as he can for a top priority meeting, as well as for Ironwood to be ready for the said meeting as soon as Qrow arrived.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _It's a little shorter this time, but I feel like it's fine considering the info-dump that was the last chapter._

 _Am I delivering the Hurt/Comfort part of the genre well enough for your tastes? I hope it doesn't feel forced._

 _And what do you think of Tiella's deeply kept secret Skill?_

 _Is the story going a little too slow?_

 _Thoughts and praye- err, I mean opinions! Thoughts and opinions, please thank you!_

 _I'm still wondering why Chapter 3 didn't go to the front page after I uploaded it... maybe it just happens sometimes?_


	5. Chapter 5

AN: _Hello again!_

 _This is just to address Dear Guest's review on Glynda using glyphs. I rewatched the first episode of V1 RWBY to make sure that she does, indeed, use glyphs to manipulate Dust with her Telekinesis._

 _Now, I know how confusing that is because honestly, I'm still confused too, so I totes don't blame you. "How come Glynda can use glyphs if her Semblance is Telekinesis?" is a very good question that I, unfortunately, don't have the answer to. It just is._

 _Like what my mum always says, "People don't think it be like it is, but it do." and I think it's beautiful._

 _Unless of course, someone explains to me why that is._

 _Jokes aside here's Chapter 5! Enjoy._

* * *

Morning came gently to Tiella the next day. She felt refreshed and energized—well rested after possibly one of the most disorienting days of her life so far. Her eyes cracked open at 6 in the morning like they normally do at the start of her daily routine.

She stood from her bed and went directly to the bathroom to wash her face with cold water. She hand-combed her bed hair with her still damp hands as she didn't have her own brush. It didn't matter to her, she always learned to make do with what she had on hand. She's resilient that way.

After brushing, she fetched her hair ties from her pocket and easily did her hair into a high ponytail. Now, despite the high placement, her hair still reached just slightly above her butt, so she would always wrap the rest of her ponytail into a bun which was held tightly by her second tie. She brushed her bangs to the left, revealing sharp golden eyes in full view.

As soon as she's done doing her hair, she stripped her dress shirt off and threw it on one of the beds, leaving her in only a sports bra. She had a well-toned body, tempered through extremely rigorous training—only supplemented by intense body weight lifting. Even in a relaxed state, one can see how toned her muscles were. Her build plays largely to her speed and agility, but that didn't mean she didn't pack a mean punch. Her lithe form is riddled with scars of varying shapes and sizes as well.

A long scrape on her left shoulder, two holes on her stomach, some cuts on both arms and flanks, and signs of a burn scar hidden partially by her bra on the right side of her back. All in all, she had the look of a seasoned and battered warrior down to a T. She even had a cut on her forehead that ran across her left eyebrow—usually hidden behind her fringes.

Now if we're talking sizes, Tiella's Tiellas were nothing small, _but_ they were far from being huge. If people had to guess, most of them would think she's a C halfway to D. In other words, fairly average. _Nothing special_. But if we look to her _thig-_

 _"Feels like someone's dissing my tits after a good ogling."_ Tiella thought, suddenly having an irrational urge to fuck someone in the face with a metal bat.

Oh, sorry, moving on.

She wore her combat boots after wearing her own form-fitting military pants and she was done. She did a once-over in front of the mirror in the closet and went out the door, keys in her pockets, ready for her morning workout.

She walked down the hall, earning looks from the few early risers like her. Some recognized her as the girl in the cafeteria, some simply gave her a look, likely to check her out discreetly—which didn't work because she noticed but chose to ignore. Some openly checked her out which she also chose to ignore. She reached the first floor and saw the bunny girl from yesterday in her workout clothes. A plain white T with maroon jogging pants and white rubber shoes.

She went past the bunny girl—who she now recalled was Velvet—as she didn't really have any business with her, but after a couple of paces ahead, she heard Velvet call out to her from behind.

"Excuse me! Ms. Tiella!" Velvet said as she lightly jogged over.

"Yes?" Tiella said after turning around, flashing her a casual smile. "Velvet, right?"

"Yes, you remembered my name." Velvet replied with a little smile on her face.

"Yeah, well, hard to forget a cute bunny girl's name. Also, Tiella's fine. I'll ignore you the next time you call me with a title." Tiella responded while keeping up the casual smile. _"Weird how she's the only one with an accent around here. Is there an equivalent of Aussieland in this world?"_

"Wha- I- Uh. T-Thank you... and, um, I will." Velvet stuttered and blushed faintly while holding her bunny ears close to her face while looking up at the much taller girl. "A-Are you just about to do your morning workout?" Velvet asked demurely, eyeing some of the scars Tiella didn't bother hiding. _"That's quite a few scars. Does she like to train without her Aura? Though some of those look like they weren't from training but actual fights."_

"Actually, yeah," Tiella answered as she started walking, inviting Velvet along with a look. "I was planning to do a couple laps around the campus to warm up. What about you? You starting or just finishing?"

"A-Around the campus?" Velvet asked, a little surprised with Tiella's idea of a warm up. "A-Ah, I'm just starting a-as well."

"That's great then. Maybe you'd care to join me?" Tiella asked, upping her walking speed as they neared a pavement. "Like I said yesterday, I'm a new hire, so I've no idea about the layout of this place."

Velvet matched her walking speed as soon as she saw Tiella sped up and answered, "Yes!" which earned her a weird look from Tiella.

"I-I mean," she coughed into her hand and continued, "Yes, I'd be happy to show you around."

"Awesome," Tiella replied as she flashed her a big grin. "Should be a good place to start," she said, looking around to see a long winding pavement shaded by large trees stretching a couple of dozen meters ahead that likely curved around the school as she'd guessed. She then began doing dynamic exercises to properly stretch out her limbs for a run.

"Sure," Velvet said as she started doing her own light dynamic stretches, following Tiella's lead. "this path curves around the school, leading into a big open field on the other side from here." she finished, huffing lightly.

"Sounds good," Tiella said as soon as she finished her jumping jacks.

"Then, at the end of the field, there'll be another path that should circle back to this place here."

"Great," Tiella huffed, "just what I was hoping for," she said as she lightly jumped from one foot to another in place. "Ready?"

"Ready." Velvet replied, waiting for Tiella to lead the way.

"Alright, let's go!" immediately after speaking, she went into a full-on sprint, leaving Velvet behind.

"Wha-" caught off guard by Tiella's sudden sprint, she sprinted as well, trying to catch up. "W-Wait up!"

* * *

"Do..." Velvet breathed heavily, "...do you always start your workouts like that?" A good amount of sweat formed on her forehead and gym clothes. As far as Velvet was concerned, full-on sprints for 20 minutes with 30-second breaks of walking after every minute of running was already a full body workout. Her knees felt like jelly, her breathing was labored, her abdomen felt strained, and her arms and upper back felt slightly sore.

Even with passive Aura enhancement, she can only go on for so long while giving it her best and trying to stay at her best all throughout.

"Yeah, stamina training's real important to me. I'd go for another two laps but it looks like you're ready to pass out." Tiella said while sending Velvet a wry smile. She, on the other hand, while coated with sweat much like Velvet, didn't even look like she was tired. She was breathing a little louder than usual, but other than that, she was fine.

"Actually, I'm gonna go for another two laps after all, if you don't mind. You can just wait for me here, try to cool down?"

"Ho-.." Velvet said, still gasping for air. "Ho-kay," she said while walking to a tree sluggishly to lean on, placing a hand on her chest.

"Alright then, I'll be right back!" and off did Tiella went sprinting.

— _ **About 5 minutes later**_

"Aaaand one more lap to go," Tiella said as soon as she arrived at the tree Velvet was still leaning on. She was breathing a little more labored compared to earlier. She gave Velvet a little wave while walking past her.

"Ahaha..." Velvet gave a little wave of her own and watched Tiella go for another sprint a couple of paces later. _"So much stamina..."_

 _"Sure are lotta trees in this place. Probably means a lotta horny teens here at night, too."_ She thought during another lap around the school.

Meanwhile, Tiella was getting various looks. She also realized that she'd been getting a lot of them lately. Some already recognized her after seeing her run past them for the 4th time already. She was content with ignoring them, focusing back on her run, however. She noticed more of those _animal-people_ like Velvet walking around the courtyard and open field, reminding herself again to ask Glynda about them later on.

"I'm done! Thanks for waiting." Tiella said to Velvet who was doing light dynamic stretches again.

"Welcome back." Velvet said with a little smile on her face. She noticed that Tiella was actually breathing a little harder than before, her chest visibly rising and falling. "Where do you want to go next?"

"There a place where I can hit something repeatedly without getting arrested?" Tiella responded with a cheeky grin.

She chuckled, "Yes, don't worry. We have lots of them here."

"Lead the way? Unless you've got your own thing to do?"

"Sure. And it's fine, I was planning to head to the gym as well anyways."

* * *

At the gym, Tiella parted with Velvet to head for the punching bags. Velvet headed for the large jungle gym to practice more of her acrobatics.

 _"This place looks amazing."_ Tiella thought while eyeing some of the other equipment. _"That's a lotta machines. All of em look like they're top of the line too. They even have dummies to hit, nice."_

The gym was filled with the early risers that wanted to train before classes began. Most of them were by the weightlifting area and the dummies area for close and long range combat. She found one punching bag unoccupied and headed straight for it. She gave the bag a few solid taps on the side with her palms and nodded in satisfaction. She looked at her hands and remembered that she left her gloves back in her room.

Tiella looked around the area for a bit to see if she can find anything she can cover her fists with. Not finding anything, she walked over to where Velvet was and asked, "Hey Velvet! You know where I can find some tape and gauze for my hands?"

Velvet was balancing herself on one of the bars with only the fingers of one hand. When she heard Tiella speaking to her, she let go, caught the bar with the same hand, fell forward once to revolve around the bar, let go, somersaulted in the air, and finally landed with arms raised and both feet flat on the gym mats in front of Tiella.

"8 out of 10," Tiella commented with her arms crossed in front of her.

"Thanks." Velvet responded demurely. "Did you cut yourself on the punching bags?"

"Nah, not yet at least." Tiella showed Velvet both her hands then crossed her arms once more unknowingly emphasizing her bust even further.

"That's good. Let me show you where to get them." Velvet said while leading the way.

As soon as Tiella got what she needed, she immediately started wrapping her fists while walking back to the bags. Not forgetting to thank Velvet before parting of course.

"Right," she said to herself, lightly punching her fists together. She stretched her neck left and right, front and back, then around clockwise and counterclockwise, all the while jumping in place from one foot to another.

She began with soft taps with her fists, alternating between right and left. Each tap got stronger and stronger until the bag swayed along. After a few more taps came the light jabs. She began adding spin to her jabs after a while and finally went into haymakers.

She started slow with the haymakers, hitting the punching bag with hooks and straights from different angles. Then, she raised her speed. She kept going at the punching bag, each blow landing harder and faster until she started adding footwork.

And that was when she started mixing things up a bit more. She darted left and right, mixing in various combinations of punches. Two-hit jabs followed by a solid right hook. Three alternating light hooks followed by a left straight with a spin that started from the sole of her right foot, sending the bag swinging hard backward, nearly reaching the ceiling it was connected to, the chain holding it up making a loud rattling sound.

The loud noise certainly caught the attention of some nearby gym goers, earning her a small crowd for a short while before they went back to doing their own thing. Even Velvet from a little further away in the jungle gym heard the noise loud and clear given her obviously heightened hearing.

After a short while, she mixed in various combinations of kicks, knees, and elbows and kept going at the bag non-stop for another 30 minutes. So focused she was with her punches and kicks that she hadn't noticed the looks she'd been getting. Some of which came from another tall redhead from the wooden dummies for close quarters combat.

* * *

"Tiella?" Velvet called from beside her. After they both finished their morning workout/training, they sat on a bench by the lockers while rehydrating themselves with cold bottles of water.

"Yeah?" Tiella looked to Velvet while wiping her face with a face towel. "What's up?"

"Do you always train so intensely without Aura?" Velvet continued. "I can tell because I practice Aura-sensing here."

"Pretty much." she lied. _"It's the manifestation of the Soul, or so Glynda said, right? Maybe she can help me with it, too? Because fuck me if I don't even have a soul."_

She continued, "I just figured, if I have a good core—a solid foundation—I'll be able to perform much better when I go all out, y'know? Because when nothing else works, all you can fall back on is your basics, right?"

"I see. That makes sense." Velvet said contemplatively before she glugged the rest of her drink down. _"Maybe I should try it out, too? Coco's been teasing me lately, calling me a one-trick bunny and all."_

"Also! I'm a firm believer that broken bones teach better lessons." Tiella said while flashing Velvet a big toothy grin.

"I-I see." Velvet responded. _"M-Maybe I should go back to the basics first if I'm going to be training without Aura?"_

"Ready to hit the showers?" Tiella asked, pulling Velvet away from her thoughts to revise her own training regime.

"Sure." she nodded.

After the shower, Tiella spent the next 5 minutes doing her signature braids in front of the large locker room mirror—twin, thick, and loose at the base of her nape. Her bangs lightly hiding her eyes as they peeked in between. Quite the homely image, unfitting of a cold and hardened mercenary—as some would say.

Well to that she would always respond with how well she can fit her gun in another person's anus and magically add extras for easier shitting. Not really, just to most assholes about it, but you get the picture.

She was sitting next to Velvet who was on the bench, carefully brushing her hair after drying it out with a towel.

"Hey, Velvet," Tiella called while buckling her boot back. "How come you didn't fight back?" she said with a bit of seriousness in her tone.

"Well..." Velvet started, a little surprised with the sudden change to a more serious subject. "It's complicated," she said while rubbing her arm demurely.

"Yeah?" Tiella responded without looking, still buckling her other boot back. "Well, whatever floats your boat." she stood and tapped the tip of her boots on the floor a couple of times to fit it nicely and continued. "Like I said before, the next time that happens, I won't be helping you out." and she extended her hand to Velvet, an offer for her to help her stand.

Velvet gingerly took the offered hand and stood to face Tiella looking up. "Okay," she replied contemplatively.

"By the way, from one girl to another..?" Tiella whispered after moving her slightly flushed face closer to Velvet. Unsurprisingly, Velvet's immediate reaction was to move her head back while hoping Tiella didn't notice the blush forming on her cheeks.

"Y-Yes?"

Tiella looked around with her eyes to make sure no one else was around to hear her whispered words. "Do you know a place where I can buy underwear? I'm new to Vale and I know it's disgusting, but I've been wearing these things for 2 days now because I've nothing else."

Velvet looked at Tiella wide-eyed, letting her words sink in. She saw Tiella's face flush even more while pursing her lips. She stared for a little longer before she remembered that Tiella asked her a question.

"Y-Yes. I know a place and my partner knows way more than I do." Velvet said as she tried to calm herself down. "If you're fine with it, I can introduce you to Coco. She's been wanting to meet with you anyway for saving me from those bullies."

"Yes. Please. As long as I don't have to be forced into this stank ass bra any longer than today."

Velvet chuckled at her words, though, she truly understood the grossness of wearing days old sweaty underwear, "How does after school sound?"

"I'm gonna have to check my schedule with Glynda to make sure. I also don't have a Scroll yet so... I'll come looking for you instead?"

"I suppose you can look for us in the dorms. We're Team CFVY, spelled with a "C-F-V-Y" and we're in room 206 in the West Wing Dorms."

 _"Weird way to spell coffee. Maybe it's the team's initials arranged intentionally like_ that? _"_ Tiella thought for a second before answering. "Great, I'm just a floor above you guys at 312."

"That's good to know." Velvet said and looked at the wall clock, 7:27 am. She contemplated for a bit before speaking again. "Do you... um..."

"Yeah?" Tiella said, urging Velvet to continue.

"W-Would you like to eat breakfast with me-.. m-me and my team! I mean, I would probably be with my team, i-if you don't mind the company of course."

"I don't mind. I'm hungry anyway. I just need to change into something that doesn't reek of sweat before I go."

"T-That's great!" Velvet said, expression blooming with a gentle smile. "We'll wait for you by the first floor then."

"Sounds like a plan. Shall we?" Tiella said while facing the door out the locker room.

"Let's."

* * *

As soon as Tiella got back to her room she quickly changed into the same attire she had as yesterday, with fresh clothes of course. She headed down to the first floor where Velvet and her team were waiting in their school uniforms before quickly heading for the cafeteria.

"Tiella," Velvet started, introducing her team in order with her open palm as they walked. "this is Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi."

 _"It really is made up of their initials. I don't know if that's smart or dumb. I mean, who named them like that?"_ Tiella thought, wondering what sort of thought process was followed to make a decision to create team names based on each team member's initials before she was broken away from them by a question.

"Why do you already have a tray?" Coco asked, curious about how she had one with her already.

"I brought this one to my room yesterday to eat after the mess 'cause staying there felt very awkward for me. I just forgot to return it as soon as I was done." Tiella explained nonchalantly.

Coco didn't speak at first, only peeking at Tiella after lowering her shades. Fox only nodded without looking her way. Yatsuhashi at least faced Tiella before nodding his head and back to looking where they were going.

Coco gave her a small grin. "Thanks for saving Velvs." extending her hand for a handshake. "She told me _all_ about how you toyed with her bullies yesterday."

Tiella shook her hand and was about to introduce herself as well but before she could, Coco firmed up on her grip and continued, "And also about your little _parting words_ to her afterward." she said as she got her face a little closer to hers.

Tiella, for her part, tightened her grip as well and came even closer with a small grin of her own. "Just my two cents as a new hire."

They had a stare-off with tensions rising enough for Velvet to feel nervous. "C-Coco-" she started, attempting to dissuade her partner from picking a fight. Though before she could, she heard Coco laugh then let go of Tiella's hand immediately.

Tiella looked at Coco with a raised eyebrow and the same small grin.

"I like her, Velvs! She's got spunk." Coco said after her short laugh, giving Velvet a cheeky smile.

"Coco! Please!" Velvet whined, a little mad that she got tricked into believing that Coco was about to pick a fight with her savior.

Tiella laughed as well after seeing the interaction between Velvet and her partner. "You have a nice team, Velvet."

"T-Thanks, I know." Velvet said demurely. "R-Right! Team, I know I already told you about her but this is Tiella and she's a new staff member here," she said, shaking her embarrassment off by getting back on track.

"It's very nice to finally meet you, Tiella. Mind if I call you Tielle or Chelly?" Coco spoke as a representative of their other teammates.

"I don't mind." she just shrugged.

"Great," Coco said in response. "You know... you look a little too young to be a staff member at Beacon. Much less a professor..." she said after eyeing how Tiella's looks and attire. "Velvet also told me about how you just moved in so you might need help with some shopping."

"Yep." Tiella said, popping the 'p' sound. "And Ozpin just gave me a little pass because he knew me from somewhere else."

"That's great," Coco said, leading the way to the trays. "And you came to the right girl, Tielle. I know _all_ the great spots to pick out some clothes. And we can start by giving you a nice little makeover." she then proceeded to order one large serving of chicken salad with two sunny side ups and a cold glass of orange juice.

"That's..." Tiella caught the underlying meaning behind Coco's statement and suddenly she worried about her precious afternoon. "...real great. Really. It is." she said, following from behind with her own tray. "Just a sec, I need to order."

Tiella turned to the cafeteria lady and asked, "Do..." she hesitated slightly, "Do you guys take special orders?"

"As long as we have it in the pantry." the lady said, recognizing who Tiella was in an instant.

"Great!" Tiella beamed and immediately listed her order. "I'll have one large order of mac'n'cheese, your spiciest chili, and pizza toppings and put it all on a large bun, thanks!" she said, eagerly waiting for her order.

The cafeteria lady's eyes were wide as soon as Tiella finished her order, and she wasn't alone with the reaction. Team CFVY looked at Tiella with varying degrees of surprise as well as some of the nearer students who heard her make the order. The lady was dumbfounded for a short while longer before she remembered that she still had to do Tiella's order.

"Better put the pizza topping first, then the mac, then the chili by the way." Tiella continued, oblivious to the looks she's getting from the others. "Oh! And a tall glass of milk, thanks!"

"That's... a lot of carbs." Velvet said in mild astonishment but then immediately remembered Tiella's supposed daily routine, to which she then thought was only apt.

"Are you sure that's not gonna kill you?" Coco said, looking both scared and interested by the monstrosity that was Tiella's breakfast.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll burn it all up tonight anyway." Tiella dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"What do you even call that... _thing?_ " Coco asked, still eyeing the thing incredulously.

"I dunno, probably a Sloppy Tiella or something," Tiella responded offhandedly, saying the first words she thought of while looking at her breakfast without actually thinking.

" _S-S-S-Sloppy Tiella...?_ " Coco repeated, trying not to laugh too hard else she spills her own breakfast on the floor. "Hey, Mama!" Coco called out to the cafeteria lady, "This girl says this monstrosity's called a _Sloppy Tiella!_ Better keep it in the menu from now on!"

"Will do, Coco!" said the cafeteria lady.

"Tonight?" Velvet asked after having a good laugh—her turn to order. She ordered a large serving of an all-vegetable salad with some tofu and a cold glass of water.

"Yep, I continue my workout at night before I hit the hay," Tiella said while following Coco to a vacant table.

The two boys quietly made their orders as well and followed just behind Velvet, content to stay in the background of the three girls' talk.

Coco hummed in thought as soon as she sat down followed by Tiella to her left, then Velvet to put Tiella between them. "Anyway, I'm actually a little jealous of you Chelly. How did you do it?" she said, leaning down on the table and resting her chin atop her hands put together in front of her.

"Habou' whaf?" Tiella asked, face stuffed with half of her... _breakfast_ already.

Coco and Velvet paused and stared, wondering how someone could eat so much in so little time. Tiella noticed the looks she got and swallowed quickly. "Right, sorry about that. So, what were you jealous about?" she asked while licking bits of chili and mac from her fingers.

The question snapped both girls from their reverie, forcing them to return to their meals. Coco then continued after a small bite. "I was wondering how you got our sweet little Velvs so close to you after just a day," she said while giving Velvet a teasing smile. "It took me at least a _week_ before I could get her to talk to me about herself, and that was just her telling me she didn't eat meat! Can you believe it?" she continued, exaggerating her tone and actions. "I was under the impression she _hated_ me or something."

"I-I'd never hate you, Coco!" Velvet said, feeling bad that she never knew her teammate thought she hated her. "I-I was just a little-"

"I know, Velvs, don't worry." Coco immediately chiming in, "You're just a little shy at first." giving her a reassuring grin.

Tiella hummed in thought, wondering what she did differently. "I dunno, really. Maybe I got under her skin?"

"W-Well..." Velvet spoke demurely. "I was definitely surprised to hear it. And it was after you just saved me, too. So... it got me thinking."

"Hmm." was Coco's only response, going back to her breakfast.

"Well, like I said. Just my two cents." And Tiella went back to the other half of her bun.

"What is a 'two cents'?" Velvet asked. "I heard you say it earlier but I just couldn't get what you mean."

"Oh, uh, right, yeah." Tiella scratched her cheek in response, a wry smile on her face. _"Forgot, not on Earth."_ she grabbed her glass of milk and took a big sip to help push her food down and continued, "I meant to say that I was just sharing my thoughts. It's just a metaphor."

"Oooooh." Velvet said, finally understanding what she meant. Coco and the rest of Team CFVY only nodded in acknowledgment.

Tiella downed the last bites of her breakfast with the rest of her milk in one big swig. She finished what a satisfied _"Aaah!"_ leaving her with a white mustache that Team CFVY found to be both funny and uncharacteristically adorable of the tall girl. Tiella then licked her lips and stood from her seat.

"It was nice meeting you, Coco—" she said while looking at Coco with a casual smile, then the rest of her team, "Team CFVY. And thanks for joining me earlier Velvet. I gotta go see Glynda, she's probably waiting for me in her office or something." she finished before giving Velvet a little pat on the head which greatly surprised her and Coco.

"I'll be seein' you guys later," Tiella said while walking away, unaware of the various reactions on each member of Team CFVY's faces.

* * *

Glynda was on her desk compiling data on her students, organizing them via year, class, and team. She was quietly focused on her work when suddenly she heard the door swinging and slamming loudly.

"Heeeey, Glynda," Tiella said while walking into Glynda's office without even bothering to close the door. "Can I get an advance today? Hopefully, get it before the afternoon ends? I'm in _severe need_ of fresh clothes."

Glynda gave Tiella a raised eyebrow and re-positioned her glasses before speaking. "And you asked me if I knew how to knock yesterday."

"Oh, sorry," Tiella said before knocking on the already open door three times before closing it behind her. "There we go." She walked up to Glynda's desk where she put her hands over. "So, can you give me an advance? I really can't stress enough how I _need_ fresh clothes right now. Among other things."

Glynda's eye twitched slightly at the implication, unwilling to continue her train of thought as to what exactly she meant. "I'll speak with Ozpin about it later. For now, here's your schedule for today," she said, handing over a small list of which classes to go to in order, who to follow, when it began, and when it ended, along with her own breaks. When Tiella took the list from her, she shortly resumed to her own work.

"Thanks." Tiella studied her schedule nonchalantly. "Let's see now... Grimm Studies first with... Professor Peter Port, then History with Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck? What the hell kinda name is Oobleck?"

"The kind of name that should be addressed with a Dr. at the front of it." Glynda spoke dryly and continued while still focused on her work, "He _dislikes_ not being addressed by his title, so don't even _think_ about it." already understanding that there's a fairly high chance of Tiella doing something to spite said colleague.

"We'll see..." she said in a low voice, hoping Glynda wouldn't hear it.

" _Don't._ "

"Okay."

"You're still going to do it, aren't you?"

"You know me so well already even though it's only been a day."

"You cried in my arms yesterday. I'd say I know _you_ well enough compared to most of the people here."

" _Right!_ So, Combat classes in the afternoon for the last class of the day, huh? Lead by... you? Awesome, this should be good."

"There's still a Dust Theories class lead by Professor Peach before mine on that list, please don't forget that."

"Ah, you're right. My bad."

"Will there be anything else?" Glynda asked, raising her head to look at Tiella while once more re-positioning her glasses.

"Just one thing..." Tiella said, moving her face a little closer to Glynda's where they met at eye level. Tiella stared at Glynda for a bit until she realized that she'll never get a flustered expression from her the way she was doing it. "...how much is a _Scroll?_ "

"If you want a personal scroll, the average market price for a simple one is 400 Lien. But if you're just worried about us contacting you, you don't have to because we'll be providing you one at a later date for business purposes." Glynda answered, completely unfazed.

Tiella stood back upright and folded her list before pocketing it. "Great to hear it! I'll see you around, Glynda," she said while already walking out of the office. "And don't forget! I really need that advance!"

"Of course. Have a nice day, Tiella." Glynda said from her desk, already returning to her work.

"You, too," Tiella said before shutting the door.

* * *

Tiella walked the hallway toward her first class which was to assist Professor Port for Grimm Studies.

 _"She's never gonna forget that, is she? Nothing's ever easy..."_ Tiella whined internally. She breathed in deeply, filling her lungs with as much air as she could before sighing out the words "This is my life now..." in the most resigned manner she could.

She reached the door to Professor Port's class and found that some students were already in their seats while a portly man was in front of the large board writing something.

 _"Is this supposed to be a joke? A portly old man is called Professor Port? Is this actually Lillianne's doing? Fucking Lily and her stupid fucking puns reaching another god damn dimension."_ she thought in slight disdain.

"Ah, yes!" Port said after seeing Tiella by the door. "You must be the new girl! It's very nice to finally meet you. Come on in and don't be shy!" he said in his boisterous manner, directing the attention of some students to her.

 _"Please, don't tell me he's one of_ _ **those**_ _kinds of old men."_ Tiella thought while walking towards Port as instructed. Some of the students bubbled into low murmurs while looking at her from their seats. Words like _"Hey, that's the professional bully from the cafeteria video!"_ and _"She's way taller than I thought."_

 _"I guess word of me already spread? That's not good."_ Tiella thought, not really happy about her small and sudden rise to fame and infamy. She much preferred a life of anonymity from the public at the very least. Though with her current job, she understood that it's something that can't be helped.

"Good mornin', Professor Port. The name's Tiella. Glynda said I should stick to observing classes for my first day but if you have anything I can help with, then feel free to ask." she said, curtly introducing herself in a voice clear enough for at least the front desks to hear and an extended hand for a handshake.

Port, ever the jolly man, took the offered hand and gave it a very firm squeeze and shake while looking Tiella straight in the eyes. "That's good to hear! Let me get a seat for you so you can sit near the board. You can start by introducing yourself as soon as class begins and observing my students and I for the duration! Class should begin shortly."

"Alrighty, then."

Tiella took the offered seat and sat cross-legged, arms crossed in front. She checked the time from the wall clock at the back of the room: 8:58 am. She glanced around the room to take a better look at the students and noticed a few familiar faces. Some of which she knew as Velvet and Jaune. Her eyes met with Velvet's and she gave her a small wave from her seat, ever the demure girl.

Tiella waved back with a small casual smile in response then glanced around once more to see the same boys that bullied Velvet a couple of rows behind her. One of the said bullies, particularly the one she used as a blunt instrument, was glaring at her with all his might, teeth grit and everything. She responded in kind by giving him the smuggest smile she can muster, causing him to nearly pop a vein in pure indignation.

 _"That's enough teasing, I guess."_ Tiella thought, eyeing the clock once more and was correct in thinking that class should be starting any second from there. _"It's a class about Grimm, creatures I've never heard of, in another world. I don't like schools but it should be interesting enough, right?"_

She thought wrong.

* * *

 _"Boy, I was both right and wrong."_ Tiella thought not even 5 seconds after class ended. _"He was exactly what I thought of him and his class was the exact opposite. Christ."_ The entire time she was giving him the benefit of the doubt waiting for him to prove her wrong the pleasant way.

 _"It's like watching an old man stroking his flaccid cock in an attempt to feel good after years upon years of inaction."_ she sighed once more after rubbing her face with one hand in slight frustration as well as to wake her up from the _snoozefest_ that was her first class.

 _"At least I learned more about Grimm. Weird how they just up and disappear soon as they're dead. Oh, wait, fuck! I forgot to ask Glynda about Aura for me! Maybe I can ask her during lunch or something? And the freakin' Faunus-whatever! Gods fuck me. I hope the next class is better."_

She fished her schedule from her pocket and checked her next class. _"Ah, it's that Oobleck guy's class. History. Great. I love history."_ she pocketed her list once again and sighed, "My day's just starting and I'm already tired."

"Don't worry, Dr. Oobleck has a way of keeping students from sleeping in his class." a familiar voice and accent came from behind, which caused her to turn around.

"Velvet, long time no see." Tiella greeted sarcastically, earning a chuckle from the bunny girl. "And I just hope you're right." turning around once more to lead the way to her next class.

They walked next to each other contentedly in silence until they reached their destination. They parted as soon as they entered the room and Tiella saw a large number of papers pinned to a large world map on the board. Then she looked to the area near the desk and found a messy head of green hair that grew a human-shaped body to help it stand and... dart around from one part of the room to another without taking a single step—all the while drinking something from a mug.

 _"I swear if this isn't actually robot..."_

"Professor Oobleck, good morning." Tiella initiated while walking up to the said professor and extending her hand like she always did.

Oobleck looked to the source of the voice that called out to him and immediately darted towards her. "Ah yes! You must be Tiella! Good! Very good!" he sipped. "For today, you're free to simply observe! Pick any seat you like, I don't mind, and if you have any questions yourself, don't be afraid to ask!" he sipped once more, "Also! Please do remember to introduce yourself to the class before we begin." then moved his face just centimeters away from hers and spoke in an angry tone. "And it's _'Doctor'_ Oobleck! I didn't earn the Ph.D. for fun, _thank you very much!_ "

 _"Yeah, no one can speak that fast without the need to breathe. This guy's a robot."_ Tiella convinced herself, blinking multiple times in response.

"Sure thing, Professor. I'll be here if you need me," she said, giving Oobleck her own brand of cheeky smiles and picked a seat for herself next to one of the students. H only responded by re-positioning his glasses and muttering something about the _'lack of respect from kids these days'_ while going back to his business by the board.

She saw a lot of familiar faces from the previous class enter the room and pick their seats. Particularly Velvet, Jaune, and the angry boy. She just shrugged and thought nothing of it.

A few minutes later, she introduced herself as instructed and class began. True to Velvet's words, Oobleck did have a way to keep his students from falling asleep in class. Darting around the room, moving from desk to desk, student to student, while discussing is definitely bound to catch his students' attention, boring as his topics might be to her.

 _"Please, give me a normal next class."_ Tiella sincerely wished to Lady Luck while fishing out her schedule as soon as she was out of Oobleck's class. _"Oh, it's lunch. My favorite class so far, probably. Time to meet up with Glynda, then."_ and she pocketed her list again while walking back to Glynda's office.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Do you now have a better image of Tiella in your mind? I hope I described her well enough for you guys._

 _I'll also be trying to pick up the pace for a bit. I noticed how much time I spend just trying to create banter like I'm writing some kind of Comedy Slice of Life story. It probably is at this point but, I dunno for sure._

 _And yes, I know. Fox IS blind, or at least that's what most of the fandom believes since not even the wikia says so explicitly. Or maybe they confirmed it in a subreddit or something, I dunno._

 _Once again, reviews, please!_


	6. Chapter 6

— _ **Lunch Break, Staff Room, Main Building**_

"So, professors, how was she?" Peach asked before sipping on a cranberry juice on one of the tables. "Was she as interesting as the video in the cafeteria suggested?"

Port and Oobleck looked back on their personal experience with Tiella, remembering their first impression of her after finally meeting her in person. Port was eating a large sandwich with the usual suspects as ingredients. Oobleck was contentedly snacking on smaller sandwiches that were much like Port's. They paused for a bit until Port answered first.

"When she came into my class, it looked like she didn't know what to expect." Port said, "I had her introduce herself as soon as class began and had her sit on the side so she could observe me and my students to get her a little acquainted." he continued after drinking from his glass of water, "Now, while I was regaling my students with my glorious deeds and encounters with various Grimm in the past, I kept looking back to her and noticed how she seemed like she's never heard of Grimm before!"

Peach and Oobleck looked at him with confused eyes, silently urging him to continue. "I know it sounds hard to believe, so at first I thought to myself perhaps she's just very interested in learning, however, she kept giving me strange looks whenever I talked about Grimm and how I defeated them."

"Peter, I feel like I know why she's giving you strange looks, but okay, please continue." Peach said.

Port raised his one eyebrow at Peach in confusion but continued nonetheless, "Now, when I was about to tell them the tale of me riding on an Elder Nuckelavee's back all across Anima, I noticed a dark look over her face."

"A _dark_ look?" both professors repeated incredulously.

"Yes." Port continued in a more serious manner. "Her already sharp eyes narrowed to slits and were staring hard on the floor as if she was deep in thought."

 _"She was probably fighting sleep."_ was both professors' shared thoughts.

"I found it very strange. I wonder what she had on her mind at the time." Port said and paused for a moment to think then continued, "Nonetheless, class ended shortly after that and she thanked me and said her casual goodbyes."

"How about you, Doctor?" Peach asked, curious about Oobleck's first class with the girl.

"Other than the _rudeness_ she displayed to me by refusing to address me correctly as my Ph.D. decrees, it was a very normal experience. Not unlike that of adding a new student." Oobleck responded with a minor disdain in the beginning. "She was largely uninterested in hearing more about History and her interest only showed itself slightly by the time I had been discussing the Faunus War." he sipped from his ever-present coffee mug, "Perhaps she sympathizes with the Faunus, which should explain her actions in the cafeteria."

"I see," Peach responded, not really knowing what to think of Tiella just yet. "Maybe I can find something she can help me with later on."

"You do you, Professor Peach! And I'll be sure to have her join me on my next expedition to the Emerald Forest in two weeks!" Oobleck said after finishing his sandwich.

"That's a great idea! I'll have her join me for my weekly Grimm hunts. That should be enough time to get to know more about our new colleague." Port said, ever so boisterous.

* * *

"Glynda! Tell me more about Aura!" Tiella said immediately after barging into the Deputy Headmistress's Office only to find no one there.

 _"Well, that made me look like a dumbass."_ she thought, glad to note that no one saw or heard her trying to make a scene. She stepped back into the empty hallway and aimlessly wandered for a bit.

 _"Now, if I was a Deputy Headmistress with a giant stick up my ass on my lunch break, where would I be?"_

Tiella thought for a short while longer before fishing out her lucky coin from her pocket. She would always bring her lucky coin. Always.

 _"Heads for the staff room, tails for Ozpin's office."_ she flipped the coin and caught it lazily with her right hand. She pressed it down on the back of her left hand as soon as she did and peeked. _"Tails, Ozpin's then."_

Remembering the way to Ozpin's office through the same path she and Glynda took to her room, she started walking towards her destination. After a moment of walking, she finally reached the elevator leading up to his office. She went inside and pressed the button to the top and waited patiently while she suffered in silence because of bad elevator music.

Not even waiting for the elevator doors to fully open, Tiella stepped out and speed-walked to Ozpin's office, while again, not bothering to knock. She pulled on the door and swung it open and immediately spoke, "Ozpin, your elevator music is bad. Also, I need to find Glynda."

Ozpin was in the middle of taking a relaxed sip of his mug while leaning on his comfortable reclining "Headmaster Chair" and was surprised to see Tiella suddenly barging in. Sending her one slightly raised eyebrow in response to what she said, he casually placed his mug back to his desk and pointed somewhere to his right with an open palm—where Glynda was already sitting at a chair, cup of tea on the table in front of her, holding a stack of papers in her hand and giving her a small scowl.

"I'd at least expected you to knock on the _Headmaster's Office_ before barging in like you just did," Glynda said, giving Tiella a disapproving look while adjusting her glasses. She sighed, already understanding that Tiella likely won't stop from doing it any time soon.

"Well? What do you need?" She asked, choosing to ignore Tiella's unwarranted dis of the elevator music. She quite liked the elevator's music, it was simple and relaxing.

"Great! Looks like we're all here." Tiella said, taking the opportunity to speak to them with most of her concerns. "Were you talking about something important?"

"Yes, I was just about to tell Ozpin about your request for an advance," Glynda said from her seat coolly.

"Sweet." Tiella smiled, beaming at the news.

"May I know the reason for your request?" Ozpin asked, hands put together with his chin resting atop.

"I'm in severe need of fresh clothes," Tiella said firmly. To this, Ozpin simply raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure we've provided your current accommodations with enough clothing for a school week."

"And I'm grateful. Really, I am."

"Then, may I know the real reason?"

"See, this is why you're not popular with the ladies." Tiella started angrily, her arms crossed in front of her. "You give your female assistant a huge amount of work to do and keep asking questions with answers you don't need _or_ want to hear!" she said accusingly.

Ozpin didn't answer and only raised his one eyebrow further.

"Glynda, a little help, please? It's a girl thing." Tiella looked to Glynda pleadingly.

Glynda sighed, adjusting her glasses before turning to Ozpin. "She needs a fresh change of more... _personal effects._ "

Ozpin let the words sink in for a moment, both eyebrows raised at Glynda's statement, then nodded his head slightly and closed his eyes for a moment in understanding. "I see. My sincerest apologies, Tiella. I can definitely see why this is a difficult topic for you to speak with me."

Ozpin turned to face Tiella but only found her with her back turned to them, crouched down, and hiding her face from the both of them.

"Please, stop. Don't torture me anymore." Tiella said to both of them pleadingly, her tone weak and almost in tears. " _I feel so gross._ "

"Please, do stand. Be happy to know that you will be receiving your advance this afternoon. Simply drop by as soon as you're done with your schedule for the day." Ozpin said sympathetically.

"...thanks," she said weakly.

"And please, take a seat. Would you like another tall glass of hot milk?"

"I don't like it when you're patronizing me like this but make it sweet and we're good," Tiella said while pouting and took a seat across Glynda.

"Of course. Glynda, if you would please?" Ozpin said, addressing his assistant who'd been watching the whole conversation with tired eyes. She was about to do as was told but Tiella spoke up before she could.

"I'll only forgive you if you make it for me," Tiella said, still pouting. "Glynda did nothing wrong."

Ozpin and Glynda shared surprised looks between them at Tiella's sudden request. They looked back to Tiella, then to each other. And when Ozpin sighed with a wry smile, Glynda sighed in exasperation.

"Very well, I'll be done shortly. I'm sure you and Glynda have a few things you'd like to talk about."

While Ozpin stood to walk over to where the drinks were to be made and mixed, Tiella flashed Glynda a big toothy grin—clearly feeling victorious about making the _Headmaster_ of the school she just started working for to do her bidding even if only for a little bit. At this, Glynda rolled her eyes while shaking her head, finding it both normal and surreal for Ozpin to just do as was told.

Ozpin always had a soft spot for children, so he often indulged them, sometimes even going as far as encouraging them to mess around some more. And because of this indulgent attitude, Glynda felt the need to be the opposite. Strict and stern, almost authoritarian in nature.

"Well? I'm sure your advance isn't the only reason you came looking for me." Glynda said, trying to calm down with a sip of her tea.

"Yeah, I wanted you to tell me more about Aura," Tiella said coolly.

"What did you want to know, specifically?"

"I was wondering if it's possible I might have one, too?" Tiella said nonchalantly and continued, "I'm a mercenary, after all. So, I wanna get all the nifty tools I can get my hands on."

"I see," Glynda said, adjusting her glasses once more. Ozpin didn't react, but it was certainly a topic he was interested to hear more about. "Very well. Stand here. Let's see if I can unlock your Aura for you."

"It needs unlocking? I guess that makes sense." Tiella commented absentmindedly while talking towards Glynda. "Wait, we're doing it now? I'm not sure if I'm ready for this."

"Simply keep quiet, stand there, shut your eyes, and concentrate on yourself. I'll handle the rest." Glynda said, walking up to Tiella and placing a hand on her shoulder.

They were both quiet for a second before Glynda started glowing from head to toe. Her eyes widened and shortly after, Tiella glowed a bright red hue. Glynda concentrated on coating Tiella with her aura, then she reached deep into her very soul for a connection.

" _For it is through deeds of Valor shall we reach Eternity._

 _Through this, we become a Paragon of Bravery and Hope to rise above the ashes time and again._

 _With your Will unbending and your Heart unbreaking, I release your Soul,_

 _and by my Light, guide thee._ "

During Glynda's chant, the room glowed with a mixture of bright purple and red, as if clashing for supremacy. Ozpin watched in no small interest at the light show before him. Shortly before the end, Glynda's glow dimmed, and by the end all but disappeared, leaving the only glow left to be Tiella's red before also fading away shortly.

As soon as Glynda finished, she fell forward drained of energy and leaned on Tiella for support. Caught off guard by the sudden weight on her chest, Tiella immediately opened her eyes to see an exhausted Glynda.

"Glynda?" Tiella asked worriedly.

She lifted Glynda's face to meet hers and checked for anything to indicate what had gone wrong. Due to being surprised by Tiella's sudden show of concern, she could do nothing but stare, slightly wide-eyed.

Not hearing any reaction from the still shocked Glynda, Tiella carried her over to a couch bridal style, laid her down, and took a knee beside her. "Ozpin? What's happening? Is this normal?" she said in a barrage of questions with a seriousness in her tone.

Ozpin watched Tiella in apparent amusement as Tiella thoroughly checked a stunned Glynda's pulse and body temperature.

 _"Nothing's wrong? She's just tired?"_ she thought, registering Ozpin's lack of reaction with what she found with Glynda. _"So, this is all par for the course? Unlocking Auras can be real draining to the one doing the unlocking, then?"_

"Headmaster," Tiella spoke—voice low, cold, and unamused.

"Yes?" Ozpin's tone was very amused.

"Please, hand over my glass of milk before I go there and break it on your face."

"As you wish." was Ozpin's curt reply.

Ozpin sauntered over to Tiella who was already back in her seat and placed a tall, hot glass of sweet milk on the table in front of her, then walked back to his own seat by the Headmaster's desk. She grabbed the glass and downed half the contents in one gulp before looking at Glynda with a pout.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" was Tiella's only question to Glynda who hadn't spoken a word for a while, still looking at Tiella incredulously.

"E-Enjoying this? You believe me to have enjoyed that?" Glynda asked in disbelief. "I was drained! Can you imagine being carri- _No,_ " she paused, stopping herself mid-rant. She sat upright and took a few deep breaths to calm herself and spoke to Tiella once more while adjusting her glasses and straightening clothing.

"I used my Aura to unlock yours. So, as a result, it would leave me quite winded, even if only for a short while," she said coolly.

"Yeah, I figured." Tiella sighed. She scratched the back of her head and asked both Ozpin and Glynda. "So, how exactly do I use Aura?"

"It's not something you can learn to do on a discussion like this," Glynda answered before sipping her tea. "so, I believe it would be faster for me to teach you personally."

"Okay."

"For now, just understand that your Aura is actively protecting you. And if you wish to use your aura for enhancements, simply focus on the part of your body you wish to enhance." Glynda said as she demonstrated, her open palm glowed purple momentarily before the glow disappeared with one wave of her hand. "It takes a bit of time to get the hang of, so until you do, just keep practicing." she finished as she adjusted her glasses.

"Guess I'll pick fights in the gym," Tiella said nonchalantly, hands on the back of her head.

"What?" Glynda asked in surprise.

"It'll be fine." Tiella dismissed her easily, "I learn better in a fight anyway. And I'm not really afraid of getting my ass handed to me."

"Quite confident, I see," Ozpin commented casually.

"Nope," Tiella said, popping the 'p' sound. "just used to losing that it doesn't bother me much anymore," she said nonchalantly. The answer caught Glynda and Ozpin by surprise, though Ozpin didn't show it.

"That's..." Glynda paused and thought for a moment, "...how about this, then." she proposed, "I'll include you in the roster for spars during Combat Class. We can start later if you're so eager."

"That's perfect!" Tiella beamed, which Glynda didn't readily expect. "I've been wanting to see the difference between me and your kiddies."

"Ozpin? Is this okay with you?" Glynda asked Ozpin for permission to make it official.

"It is fine. I'm sure that it'll be an educational experience for both her and our students alike," he said, nodding his head in approval.

"Very well. Will there be anything else?" Glynda asked Tiella.

"Nope." popping the 'p' sound.

"In that case, you're free to eat your lunch if you haven't already," Glynda said, organizing her stack of papers on the table. "I still have some things I must discuss with Ozpin."

"Sure thing." Tiella said while walking to the door, "See ya." and shut it behind her.

Glynda let out a sigh as soon as Tiella'd gone off. She heard a soft snicker from Ozpin, to which she sent glares.

"You two have certainly gotten close."

"Not _now_ , Ozpin."

* * *

 _"Hopefully with Aura, I'll never have the need to use_ _ **'that'**_ _ever again."_

Tiella walked toward the cafeteria with a light spring in her steps. She was in a good mood considering what happened with her meeting with Glynda and Ozpin earlier. She had her Aura unlocked, which was great. It'll be another addition to the tools that make her a deadly weapon. The best part, however, is the fact that she'll be getting her advance. Which means she can say goodbye to her stinky undies and throw them into the wash.

After a short while of walking, she finally reached a full house in the cafeteria. She sauntered over to the front to make her order, ignoring the large number of students present inside the hall.

"Hey, Mama!" Tiella called out to the cafeteria lady, remembering how Coco called her earlier this morning.

"What'll it be, doll? Same as this mornin'?" Mama asked, immediately recognizing her as the Meat and Milk Girl, as well as the Professional Bully or so most of the students liked to call her.

"Is that how you attract regulars, Mama? I'm starting to love this place even more now." Tiella commented honestly. "And yeah, I'll have the same as this morning, thanks!"

"Alright," Mama said before turning around and making her order. A short moment later and voila, "One Sloppy Tiella with a tall glass of milk on the side."

"You even remembered the name!" Tiella beamed, "I didn't think you'd actually put it on the menu."

"After you made that crazy order this mornin', I had a couple students that heard you ask for it, too, and it just suddenly became popular."

"Hahaha!" She laughed heartily, "Glad to see that the kids've taken to my slap-up meal kindly. I'll be off Mama, thanks again."

"Any time, doll!" Mama said before she took another student's order.

Tiella started walking in search of a vacant seat but could hardly find one considering the number of people in the cafeteria. She kept walking for a while until she heard a voice call out to her from behind.

"Uh, Tiella?" the voice called, giving her a tap on the shoulder twice.

She turned around to see who called out to her and found that it was none other than Jaune.

"Ah, Jaune, right?"

"Yep, that's me."

"Right, so. Here to try to pick me up again or...?"

"N-No! I'm uh, well..." Jaune stuttered, embarrassed about being reminded of his little blunder when they first met. "I saw you looking for a seat and figured I could just invite you to my friends' table. We have some space left, and they've actually been wanting to meet you since yesterday." he finished in a hurry.

Tiella gave him a raised eyebrow in response. She stared for a little bit longer just because she wanted to see Jaune squirm under her gaze. _"He's like a scared little puppy."_

"Alright, Jaune. Lead the way."

A short walk later and they reached their destination.

"Hey, Jaune!" a red-cloaked girl said, her hand waving at them.

"Is that your new _girlfriend?_ " a girl with short orange hair asked with a grin, then looked to another girl who had red hair much like Tiella shortly after.

"I thought you said you _liked_ me!" said a girl with messy blonde hair before looking to the same red-haired girl as the other one.

Jaune being, well- _Jaune_ , could only turn into a stuttering mess at his friends' barrage of teasing.

Catching their drift immediately, Tiella held her tray with one hand and put her arm over Jaune's shoulders to pull him closer, squishing his head between her bicep and right boob.

"Sorry girls, he's _my_ boy toy, now," Tiella said with a salacious grin and a wink.

Jaune's face turned as red Tiella's hair and could say nothing coherent. The blonde and the orange haired girl paused for a second to look at each other, then back to Tiella before they both erupted in loud laughter while the rest of the table didn't know how to properly react. One of which was the other redhead who looked between Tiella and Jaune with wide eyes and a forced smile.

Tiella waited for the laughter to die down before she spoke again, letting go of Jaune before speaking. "The name's Tiella."

"We know." the blonde said, "I'm Yang," then proceeded to introduce the rest of her team. "This is Ruby, my sister, and team leader,"

"Hi," Ruby said while giving a little wave.

"This is Blake, my partner," Yang continued.

"Greetings," Blake said in a reserved manner.

"And finally, Ice Queen,"

"Hey!"

"My sister's partner." Yang then proceeded to get her team under her full arm hug and finished, "And together, we're Team RWBY!"

"Yeah!" Ruby said, slightly squished between her sister's left boob and Weiss. "We saw you introduce yourself in Port's and Oobleck's classes earlier!"

"So that's why I recognize some of you," Tiella said, humming in thought.

"Yep!" finally let go from Yang's abrupt group hug, she continued. "Her name's Weiss, by the way."

Tiella looked to the white-haired girl _"Is that natural?"_ and wondered about her hair color. She looked back to Ruby and asked, "You look a little younger than the rest, you skipped grades or something?"

"Yeah..." Ruby said, rubbing the back of her head, "Professor Ozpin let me move 2 years ahead after he saw me stop a robbery one time."

"That's nice." was all Tiella said. _"Ozpin's a lot more reckless than I thought he'd be, letting a kid in just because she did something nice once."_

"What about your team, Jaune?" Tiella called, turning to Jaune as soon as she sat down with her tray, earning looks from the rest of the table. "Aren't you gonna introduce them?"

"Right!" Jaune said and introduced his team the same way, "I'm Jaune, team leader of JNPR, and this is Pyrrha, my partner."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Pyrrha said politely with a wave of her hand.

"This is-," Jaune tried to continue but was interrupted.

"NORA!" said the girl, introducing herself instead with a lot of enthusiasm.

"Right, and this is Ren, Nora's partner."

Ren, completely opposite to Nora, only nodded his head as a polite greeting.

"Again, nice to meet all of you," Tiella said as soon as they've finished their introductions. She immediately took a big bite of her lunch, which again, turned some heads from the table's occupants. She swallowed her bite then spoke again, "So... Jaune said you all wanted to meet me?"

"Yep," Yang answered for them. "At first we saw you walk in with Jaune yesterday, so we were just a little curious. Right?" she said, looking back to her friends, "Right." she continued, "But then we saw you save the Faunus girl! That was so _badass_ how you used Cardin as a weapon to beat up his own team!"

"Pfft." Tiella chuckled at the memory, fondly remembering the terror and pain he brought the boys and the angry look he kept getting from the guy called Cardin. "Yeah, it was pretty hilarious. They were being a bunch of fucking pussies ganging up on a girl who didn't wanna fight back." she took another bite and continued after swallowing, "And since I'm a staff member, I figured it's at least my job to try to stop the bullying."

"By bullying back?" Blake asked incredulously. "You said so yourself, _'Get on my level!'_ ...among other things."

"Hey, the boys will probably be coming after me now. Which I doubt they'll have any luck in." Tiella said after drinking some milk. "And if they tried anything that goes too far, I could probably get them expelled or something. Nothing to worry about."

"Hm." Blake thought for a moment before asking again. "What's your stance on the Faunus?"

"My stance?"

"Yes."

"Personally, I don't care," Tiella said coolly, which irked Blake greatly, though she didn't allow herself to show it. "If you reversed the situation yesterday to make the boys the Faunus and Velvet the human instead, I'd still handle it the same way."

She finished the rest of the lunch and downed it with her milk in one big swig and continued speaking. "An asshole is an asshole, no matter what your race is. But I'm not gonna pretend I give a damn just because I feel a little awful for a thousand people I don't even know." she gave Blake a casual smile as she finished. "Everyone's got it bad in one way or another."

"Anyway!" Tiella said while standing, "I gotta meet up with Professor Peach for her next class, so I'll be seeing you guys. Nice meeting you." then walked off without looking back.

Blake was left contemplating her words after she left and none at the table noticed the slight change in the hidden Faunus' mood. No one but Yang, at least.

Blake felt angry. Angry at the fact that it's because of people like Tiella, people who stood on the fence of things, that allowed the discrimination of her people to happen. She understood clearly that only a minority showed open hostility against the Faunus, even at a young age.

But when she begged for help from the very same humans who were supposed to be their supporters and got nothing but eyes that avoided her own? It disillusioned her greatly.

It made her realize that the world wasn't a stark black and white like the stories of heroes in books. It made her realize that the majority of things were all in the gray. And that the minority that was, was called and dealt with in extremes. It was what lead to her decision to stay with the Fang despite the drastic change.

She grew impatient, much like the rest of the Fang that stayed. She felt that despite their best efforts, nothing was changing. So, when humans started seeing them differently, she felt ecstatic. She was glad that finally, change happened. Though, her happiness didn't last. Not for long.

She saw the looks she got from humans.

The fear and anger in their eyes, simply for _existing_.

She ignored them, believing that it was something that can't be helped if she wanted to liberate the Faunus from oppression. But then she saw the looks that her fellow Faunus sent her way. The hate in her Faunus brothers and sisters' eyes that bore through her made her stop and rethink her actions. She realized the change they eagerly sought to bring was what made matters worse for the majority of Faunus all over the world. It was then that she realized that the change they got was definitely what they _wanted_ , but _not_ what they _needed_.

So, she left.

She left her brothers and sisters in the Fang behind to lead a new life.

An honest life.

A life of just honestly helping people. Helping her brothers and sisters the _correct_ way. By bringing a good reputation to all Faunus the best way she could. It's why she chose to become a huntress. To put the skills she learned with the Fang to actual good use.

At least, she wanted to.

She couldn't.

How could she? She was a coward.

An ex-terrorist hiding in plain sight—masquerading as one of the people she was so quick to think badly of—all with the help of a little plain bow.

So, she couldn't find fault or feel actual anger towards Tiella directly. She understood and experienced thoroughly how she can't just force someone to follow in their cause—in their beliefs—if they never cared in the first place.

And it was this indifference that she wanted to change.

So, she'll follow the path she took—the path of being a Huntress—with all her anxiety and cowardice, she'll raise her banner that will both ask for help and send help for her fellow Faunus.

"You know... I can kind of agree with what she said." Yang said contemplatively. "Not everything though, just the _'everyone's got it bad'_ part."

Yang remembered her own past with Ruby clearly.

Losing her own mother before she even began raising her.

Then she lost her foster mother who she grew to love just like a real mom, too.

The pain and confusion she felt as a child made her do things she came to regret later on in life, making her the person she was today.

The rest of the table occupants also went back to their lunch in varying degrees of contemplation.

Ruby wondered how Tiella could stop herself from caring about things so easily. If she has the ability to help and reach out, then she should do it, right?

But she also understood that not everyone will think or do the same. She knew on some level that the world wasn't anything like the stories Yang read to her. But that's also why she wanted to be a Huntress in the first place.

If no one's willing to take up the mantle, to be like the heroes she grew to love and admire—to be like the hero her mom was—then _she_ will, even if she has to do it alone.

And while Weiss didn't show it, she agreed with Tiella for the most part, especially on how everyone has it bad in some way, shape, or form—reminding her of her own reasons for choosing to become a Huntress here in Beacon.

She wasn't blind to the truth that her family's company was one of the biggest driving forces for Faunus discrimination. It's how she understood her sister's decision to join Atlas' Military, to get away from their father's grasp, albeit incompletely. And being a Huntress was her own way of proving to her father that she's no simple puppet.

That she's her own person, that she'll never be him, and that she'll be the one to usher a golden age for the Schnee Dust Company in the future.

Jaune could understand everything Tiella said, but that didn't mean he agreed with it.

He always thought that he should help others in any way he can, especially those that have been trying to reach out and call for help.

Just like his forefathers did in the Great War and even before that, he'll keep fighting for what he believed in. Even if he had to swim through mud to reach his goal.

Pyrrha and Ren shared the same sentiments as Jaune, while Nora was contemplating getting the Sloppy Tiella for dinner along with pancakes later on.

* * *

Tiella checked the time on her phone while walking the hallways toward Peach's class. It showed her that it was 15 minutes to 1 pm and that her phone will die within the next day.

 _"I'm not gonna expect anything but I'm gonna ask if they have a charger for this thing anyway."_

She pocketed her phone and noticed that the class she was going to was just a couple paces ahead. So, she sauntered her way over as class was still not in session.

She got to the door and opened it and the first thing she saw was how it was both a lab and a lecture room. The student desks were arranged no differently from the previous classes she'd been to. What made it different was the amount of lab equipment on a very large desk by the front of the class. And unlike the previous class, there were small cabinets on the sides of the room, likely to store more lab equipment for the students' use.

After another short glance around the room, she saw a small child with her pink hair held in a bun by a pen wearing a lab coat, standing no taller than her waist, came out from behind the professor's desk jogging up to her.

"So! I'm guessing you're my assistant today. Great of you to come by so early. Come on in! I already have some things where I need your help with." the child said, arms akimbo while looking up at her.

"Uh... Professor Peach?" Tiella asked incredulously, eyes slightly squinting with one eyebrow raised at her.

"That's me! You're Tiella, right?"

"Yes."

"What're you waiting for? Come on in, I said!" Peach said, eager to put her new assistant to good use.

"Okay." and Tiella confusedly followed.

"I need you to carry all those equipment from the shelves over there to my desk over here."

"Okay."

"And after that, I want you to clear the board of any writings. I'm a little too short to reach the top, as you can see."

"Okay."

"Then, as soon as class starts, I want you to stand beside me when I ask you for help with my experiments throughout the class!"

"Okay."

"Glad to see that you're very cooperative, but it's fine to say words other than 'okay', you know?"

"Oka- I mean, yes. Sure. No, uh, problem, Professor Peach." Tiella said, forcing the words out of her mouth along with a few nods.

 _"She's like, the size of one peach, too. Is she just... really small? Or is she some super genius who got past grade skipping and went for school skipping instead? I'm kinda afraid to ask for some reason."_

And Tiella did everything as told while keeping a neutral expression on her face all throughout.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Thank you for reading another chapter of Lost Star._

 _How was the Aura unlocking scene?_

 _I contemplated copy-pasting Pyrrha's words into Glynda's chant for the part where she unlocked Tiella's Aura. But then decided against it because that's way too lazy even for me. I just tried paraphrasing it a bit, using words with slightly similar meanings, but still different enough that it didn't look like it was copy-pasted._

 _We all know how that worked in school, amirite?_

 _And now we get Team RWBY and JNPR, which I hope I did justice. Because honestly, I struggle to juggle between so many different characters in one scene._

 _By the way, anyone who gets sexually excited over my version of Professor Peach shall answer to the FBI._

 _That's right, I AM baiting._


	7. Chapter 7

_"So... Dust... isn't just plain dirt like I thought."_

The Dust Theories class with Peach was certainly more interesting to Tiella than she'd initially expected. She thought it would be like the previous classes where they did nothing but sit down and listen to the Professor babble, with the occasional questions to some students.

Peach made it clear to her—and likely all her students—that if they don't pay attention in class, things could go from 0 to 100 real fucking fast. Case in point, the shattered beakers and burn marks on the desks.

 _"From what I got, Dust is highly volatile. I wonder what would happen if I mixed it with gunpowder?"_

Tiella wondered about possible ways she could use Dust with her kit while returning the lab equipment back to their respective shelves.

 _"30k a month for carrying a bunch of stuff around. This is easier money than I thought it'd be."_

She dusted her gloves off and walked back to where Peach was sitting, which was by her desk.

 _"Though it's only the first day. The other two didn't really ask me to do anything yet, just letting me observe."_

"That'll be for today, Tiella, good work!" Peach said while compiling papers from the class.

"Thanks, Professor," Tiella said, giving the professor a casual smile.

"I know you're my helper and all, but if you have questions about Dust, I'm your go-to girl!"

"I'll keep that in mind Professor. Thanks again." Tiella turned to leave after giving Peach a casual wave.

Tiella left the room and continued down the hall where she believed the Combat Class was.

She was deep in thought, trying to process everything she learned in the previous class. There were a lot of things that went over her head, but it was understandable in her case as she not only joined a little later than the students did, but also because nothing like it can be found on Earth.

"Dust... huh," she said contemplatively.

She thought about Dust and how to implement it to her own style some more until she shelved it for a later date, deciding that she knew too little to start experimenting on her own about it. She remembered that her next class was to be Glynda's Combat Class, and figured she'd play a harmless prank.

So, she hurried back to her room and grabbed a little something, dismantled it, emptying its contents on an empty bottle she found in the small cabinet under the sink. She then cleaned it up a bit and reassembled it.

After making sure that the little thing was emptied thoroughly, she pocketed it and hurried over to Glynda's class with a big toothy grin.

* * *

"Running late on the _last_ class of your _first_ day already?"

Glynda said, arms akimbo, as she watched Tiella enter the room and walk to the center of the stage where she stood.

"Sorry Glynda, I ran back to my room for something. Real important."

"Never mind that, stand over there and introduce yourself."

"Yeah, I'll do it in a bit, but first..."

Tiella walked over to Glynda, grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around so they had their backs facing the class, which got the entire class confused and bubbling into low murmurs. She whispered in Glynda's ear as softly as she could, making sure that not even any nearby Faunus could hear her words.

The students couldn't tell what they were talking about or what they were doing, only seeing that they were whispering animatedly.

"No!" Glynda whispered in a very anxious voice. "That's dangerous! You can't just do something like that!"

"It's why I'm asking _permission_ , to let you know first!" Tiella said, grin reaching from ear to ear. "Come on, Glynda, it'll be a good test!"

"And what is this test supposed to achieve?"

"It's gonna be a real valuable life lesson."

"..."

"..."

"...are you _positive_ that you've emptied that thing?"

"Yep. It's still a little damp on the inside, too."

"Are you _sure?_ "

"Yes."

" _Super sure?_ "

" _Super_ sure."

"I can't believe I'm letting you talk me into this."

"Yes! You're not gonna regret it!"

"I already am."

The class saw the tall girl do a little fist pump before turning to face them with a casual smile. They were confused at first but then they saw Glynda's tired look and began wondering what they'd been talking about, but more importantly—what sort of relationship the two had.

"Uh, guys?" Jaune said in a low voice to his friends and team. "Is it just me who's nervous about Tiella right now?"

"What do you mean, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked from beside him.

"I just have a bad feeling, I guess," Jaune said, slightly anxious. _"I remember seeing that same expression before she took care of Cardin and his gang."_

Pyrrha wondered what Jaune was worried about, trusting in her leader's instincts. Though before she could wonder any further, Tiella caught her attention.

Tiella eyed the students on their seats with a casual smile on her face, hiding the fact that she was also excited to see how Beacon's batch of first years would do in spars.

Standing coolly with her arms akimbo, still keeping the casual smile up, she reached to her back, removed a pin, then swiftly tossed the little something she'd been hiding into the middle of the classroom before shouting,

" _ **GRENADE!**_ " in the loudest and most serious voice she could muster. A strong commanding tone that brought tension to everyone in the room.

Time felt like it had slowed down to every student in the room for the duration of the grenade's short flight.

Everyone's eyes widened in panic, some already in the middle of jumping away from the anticipated blast radius.

Some students screamed in fear before they could get to move. Very few had a hardened look on their faces as if thinking of another way to deal with said grenade other than jumping away and take cover from where they were.

Some students were already running to _catch_ the grenade to throw it out the window.

And the one student that caught the grenade... _hid it under himself._

" _Run!_ " the boy yelled in an extremely distressed voice.

" _Go away!_ " His cowering figure could be seen hunched over,

" _Take cover!_ " shaking nervously in anticipation for the blast that never came.

There was silence in the classroom. Everyone that jumped away and hid peeked to where the boy was hunched on the floor. They all shared looks of confusion with each other, then back to the boy on the floor.

A short moment later, their attention was taken by loud clapping sounds accompanied by jovial laughter at the front of the room.

"Bravo, Jaune!" Tiella walked over to the still hunched Jaune, though his distress was instantly replaced by confusion. "You have the makings of a wonderful _meat-shield,_ " she said after taking a knee to put a hand over Jaune in an attempt to calm him down.

"Wha-?" Jaune said shakily. "So... it was a fake?"

"Nah, that's a real grenade," she said nonchalantly.

"What!?" and Jaune unintentionally threw it back to Tiella, who caught it before it hit her face.

"Relax, it's a dud," she said while pocketing said grenade.

"A-... A dud?" Jaune asked incredulously.

"Yep." popping the 'p' sound. "I emptied it earlier just for this one moment. And I gotta say Jaune, what you did was pretty hilarious."

Jaune shifted postures on the floor, now leaning on his hands placed behind him for support. "It was just a prank..?"

"Kinda?"

"W-What do you mean, 'kinda'!? That was scary! People could have gotten hurt an-"

"And you saved everyone by being a fucking idiot. Bravo, Jaune!" Tiella said with a big grin on her face, patting the Jaune on the head. "You could've just kicked the 'nade out the window. Hell, you _could_ have just waited for your faster friends to do just that for you. Ain't that right teams?"

Tiella said while giving team RWBY and the rest of JNPR a look.

"But you didn't. You instead _played_ the hero."

"I-I panicked!"

"Granted your Aura could have protected you buuuut..." Tiella drawled, looking to Glynda to address her. "What are the odds of survival when shielding a grenade like this with your body?"

Glynda coolly answered while adjusting her glasses, "On an average individual's Aura, there's a fairly high chance of instantly being drained just from the blast force."

Jaune swallowed thickly from what he'd just heard.

"And that doesn't include the shrapnel, now does it?" Tiella asked, her casual grin turning to a mad grin with slits for eyes as she looked back to Jaune.

"Some of the shrapnel would shred the remaining dredges of Aura left after the blast, leaving you with little to no defense against the remaining shrapnel that will inevitably plant themselves into your body," Glynda answered sternly.

Jaune's voice was caught in his throat, not knowing how to react.

"Leading to a very high chance of death by blood loss." Glynda finished grimly.

At this point, Jaune could hardly breathe from the prospect that, had it been a real grenade, he would have already died then and there. He looked at his hands that were shaking uncontrollably and felt cold sweat drip down his neck and forehead.

"It would be a _slow_ and _painful_ death depending on the number of holes. As befitting of a _stupid_ meat shield." Tiella ridiculed in her mad, mad grin.

Jaune could only stare into the golden slits of the mad woman before her, not knowing what to think or do. On one hand, he was terrified of what had just happened—or what would have happened had it been real. On the other, he tried to understand what Tiella was actually trying to pull other than a laugh for herself.

"But he tried to save us!" Ruby said, standing in front of her desk in a challenging manner. "If that had been a real grenade, he would have saved us!"

"You're absolutely correct, Ruby," Tiella said in acknowledgment.

"Then why are you ridiculing him like th-"

"Because it was a stupid move." Tiella immediately interrupted, the casualness and amusement all but left her voice.

"Bu-" Ruby tried to argue.

"It's okay, Ruby," Jaune said while standing up. "She's right."

 _"She's right. It was a stupid move."_ Jaune thought, chastising himself, realizing that he definitely could have done things differently had he stopped to think. _"Just like she said, I could have left it to Ren or Pyrrha, or even Nora to swat away the grenade. But I just had to play the hero. And it would have been the end of me if she was serious."_

"But Jaune!"

"Really, Ruby, it's okay." Jaune gave Ruby a sincere look. One that gave Ruby no choice but to follow his words.

Ruby looked down after seeing the look on Jaune's face, resigned to doing nothing but clench the hems of her skirt tightly in frustration, as he requested.

"Because next time, I'll be sure to do the smart thing," Jaune said in a smile, faking confidence as he dared to stare back into Tiella's sharp gold.

Tiella looked back with her casual smile at Jaune once more and said nothing for a short moment. Then she extended her hand in front, holding it for Jaune to take.

"I'll hold you to that," Tiella said in a voice that was uncharacteristically gentle of her and an even more uncharacteristically warm expression.

This caught Jaune off guard for a moment, mesmerized by the tall girl's sudden show of sincerity. He stared face flushed for a moment before realizing the proverbial olive branch that was the extended hand that was offered to him, which he graciously took.

The moment Jaune took her hand, she grinned, back to her usual casualness and chuckled.

The front row students along with Team RWBY and the rest of Team JNPR watched the exchange in mild shock, wondering if she really did all that just for a prank as she said so.

Not a moment later, Glynda coughed into her hand to catch everyone's attention.

"It's nice to see that you'll be striving to improve for the better, Mr. Arc, but we've wasted enough time already." Glynda finished as she gave Tiella a glare.

To which Tiella only looked away from with her hands on the back of her head, whistling a random tune casually.

"And the same goes for everyone here. Acts of heroism need not always end in self-sacrifice." Glynda said coolly while adjusting her glasses and gave a long hard glance around the class.

"There is _always_ a better way."

* * *

As soon as everybody's gotten over Tiella's prank/lesson, everyone returned to their seats.

Beside Jaune, Pyrrha leaned close and spoke in a soft voice, "I'm proud of you, Jaune. Thank you for saving us." in her ever gentle tone, while taking her partner's hand into hers.

"Yeah, Jaune! You did great!" Ruby said from a few seats away in a sort of loud whisper. "You were just like the heroes in my books!"

Jaune looked back to his team and found Nora giving her two thumbs up while saying, "You're the best. Leader. _Ever!_ "

while Ren simply gave him a grateful nod and smile, "Thank you, Jaune."

"Yeah, thanks, Vomit Boy!" Yang whisper-yelled from her seat which was a little further from Ruby. Blake also joined in by giving Jaune her own grateful smile and nod.

Even Weiss dropped her usual act to express her own gratitude... "It would be greatly unbecoming of me to not express my gratitude for your attempts to shield us from harm." ...somewhat.

"So, thank you, Jaune Arc. I will always remember this day." she finished in a small, grateful smile.

So she _can_ drop the act after all, what a sweet Ice Queen.

 _"Quiet, you!"_ was Weiss' sudden irrational thought.

And surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, even the students behind them who he never really spoke to before expressed their gratitude as well.

"Yeah, thanks, Arc!"

"Don't listen to the Professional Bully, Jaune."

"Yeah, Arc, you were actually pretty awesome back there! And I thought you were just a chump!"

Jaune was caught off guard by the sudden outpour of appreciation that he was still in the middle of receiving. He looked back to his partner, who gave her another warm smile in response.

"So, be proud of yourself too, Jaune. Like we are of you." was all Pyrrha said.

It was at this point that Jaune couldn't help but well up in tears, holding himself back from crying in his seat so as to not be a sobbing wreck in class.

"T-Thanks, guys," Jaune said while his voice was nearly caught in his throat from the swell of emotion.

 _"Thanks, Tiella."_

* * *

Tiella was standing next to Glynda as they both watched the class shower Jaune in praise and gratitude.

"Can you _believe_ this _sap-fest_ happening right in the middle of _your_ class?" Tiella said to Glynda in a voice low enough that only they would be able to hear. She then scoffed and continued,

" _Kids,_ am I right?"

Glynda didn't answer. She only pinched the bridge of her nose, inhaled deeply, and muttered the words under her breath, "This is what I get for letting you talk me into this."

"Oh, come on! Isn't it great? You now have one less kid with a hero complex!"

"Just introduce yourself already, please," she said, exasperated already.

"I'm pretty sure all of them already know me as the Professional Bully," Tiella said teasingly, but then she saw the glare of pure rage in Glynda's eyes and the way she held her riding crop tightly on one hand.

"But yeah, you're right, introductions are important." she swallowed thickly and hurried along to the middle of the stage.

Tiella made one loud clap to catch everyone's attention and also to stop them from making a sobbing mess of Jaune.

"Uh, I'm sure you already know me." She said, giving everyone a glance in the room. Unsurprisingly, she got irked reactions sent her way. "But the name's Tiella. I'll be an assistant to Professor Goodwitch in some of her classes, much like with the other professors."

She separated her hands and spread her arms in a sort of welcoming gesture. "Though, during this class, I'll also be in the roster for spars from today onwards."

Pyrrha's eyes widened at the news. She, as _the four-time Champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament_ , was very interested to see what she saw this morning against an actual opponent. More specifically, her.

When she was doing her morning training in the gym earlier, she saw Tiella walk in with the bunny girl Faunus, who she believed was called Velvet, and she had a good look at Tiella's lithe build at the time. It wasn't the type to heavily rely on muscle mass for explosive power as Nora or Yang did.

In fact, you could say that Tiella seemed quite slim. Though even that couldn't mar her shapely figure.

What she saw from Tiella was similar to what she saw from Ren. A speed and agility based build that puts emphasis on quick strikes for disorienting the opponent, leaving them open for a devastating blow to finish. Though, based on what she did to that punching bag, she was a lot less graceful and elegant with her moves—opting a more straightforward approach. She also seemed to pack a _much_ larger punch by a long shot.

She couldn't understand at first how simple jabs, hooks, and straights using only short to mid-ranged windups could hit so hard, so she observed her movements for a while and found something incredible.

Tiella would spin, ever so slightly, from her toe, going up to her sole, then ankle, followed by her leg, then knee, thigh, hips, waist, chest, shoulder, elbow, forearm, and finally her fist.

It was the same principle of striking she would sometimes use, but it was on a whole other level to what she was used to seeing. She'd seen masters pull the same thing off easily and at a much more refined form than Tiella did, but it was only during one hit demonstrations on wooden dummies. Never on live combat and chained in combos.

And the speed of which she struck with the technique! It was no exaggeration to say that she must have repeated those very same moves tens of thousands of times upon thousands of hours. It was at rates that seemed blurry even to her trained eyes!

How someone just slightly older could reach a level far beyond her peers already was a mystery to her, but it was something she was very willing to explore and experience for herself.

And so, quietly where she sat, her blood pumped. Eager to have a chance to dance on the same floor against the infamous Professional Bully.

And unbeknownst to her, just a few seats away to her left, a certain blonde brawler felt just the same, if not more.

 _"I heard her talk to Goodwitch about fighting some invincible monster for hours in a battle of attrition in her room. So, if what she's saying is true, then she's one hell of a monster herself."_ Yang thought with a ferocious grin, eyes wide in anticipation, unconsciously clenching her fists and bouncing her leg in uncontainable excitement.

"So, with that, I'll be in your care," Tiella said with a big wide grin, finished with her introductions.

"Now that introductions are over, we will begin with the first match of the day," Glynda said coolly, back to wearing her professional face while holding on to a large touchscreen tablet.

"Again, for our first 4 matches, it will be random selections," she said as two large holographic screens appeared behind her. "And after that will be the Volunteer matches until the class ends."

The holographic screens showed two blank frames that started shuffling as she explained.

"Is everyone ready?" Glynda asked while adjusting her glasses.

The first image showed Cardin Winchester.

And almost immediately, Cardin stood from his seat and cheered with his team.

During team CRDL's sausage fest, the second screen kept shuffling until it produced the first match's second contender, which drew excited murmurs from the student seats.

Celestiella V. Margory.

As soon as Cardin saw the image, he immediately glared at the person herself. Still remembering the pain and embarrassment he suffered through while unconscious just yesterday.

He rushed to the locker room behind the stage to prepare for his revenge against the giant red bitch. He'll be the one doing the humiliation this time.

Meanwhile, Tiella was just happy she gets to go first. So, she sauntered off to the locker room and changed into a more spar-worthy attire.

After a couple of minutes, Cardin came out of the locker room in full battle attire with his signature armor and mace. Tiella on the other hand...

"Hey! Weren't you the boy I thrashed yesterday?" she said arrogantly, walking out the locker room wearing her signature big grin while doing light stretches.

Glynda stared at Tiella with a blank expression, unsure of what to make of her attire.

The class stared at her for a moment before they erupted in cheers.

Particularly the boys.

And some of the girls.

For Tiella's sparring gear, she chose her sports bra and shorts. She'd taken her gloves off as well as her pants, boots, and socks, opting to go both barehanded and barefoot.

"Tch. You'll be the one getting the thrashing this time, you giant bitch." Cardin responded, wielding his mace threateningly. "You just got a lucky shot from behind, you fucking coward!"

And the crowd goes _"Ooooohhh!"._

Tiella sighed in response, faking tiredness of the situation. "Better buckle the fuck up boy because you're going on another ride on the Tiella-Go-Round."

"Where's your weapon?" Cardin asked. "Wouldn't want this to end quickly for you, now would we?"

"Weapon? In a spar?" Tiella looked to Glynda curiously. "Do you take spars seriously here?"

"You're free to fight however you wish, so long as you won't regret it," Glynda answered coolly.

"I'm good, then."

" _Ooooohhh!_ "

"You fucking bitch. Is that your excuse for when I beat you to a pulp?"

"I dunno, but it sure sounds like most of the bitching's coming from you, little boy."

And the crowd goes _"Ooooohhh!"_ once more, followed by jovial laughter.

"Now, students." Glynda chimed in before the match instead becomes a full-on trash talking battle. "We all know the rules. There is no time limit and the first one whose Aura dips into the red loses. Nothing short of fatal and crippling attacks can be used, other than that, you may go all out."

Glynda eyed both fighters critically. "Are both fighters ready?"

Cardin was glaring at Tiella until she walked closer to him and extended her fist towards him, which then made him both angry and confused.

"Come on, kid," Tiella said, inviting Cardin over with a wave of her head. "Don't you show sportsmanship around here?"

"Go fuck yourself." Cardin all but spat.

Tiella looked at him with a blank face for a second, before pursing her lips and nodding her head. "Suit yourself."

Glynda watched Tiella go back to her place and take a fighting stance, and not a moment later,

"Begin!"

Cardin was about to go charging in with an overhead swing of his mace but paused when he saw Tiella do some more stretching and flexing of her arms, legs, and back.

He was insulted for a bit, thinking that this bitch wasn't taking her seriously at all, but then he saw the chords of steel that were apparently her muscles popping up as she tensed her body, conditioning it for a fight. His eyes hardened, refusing to let the show intimidate him.

She then stretched her neck while doing the same with her chest and back, and then cracked her knuckles before speaking.

"Alright, I thought you were just a chump but looks like you have manners after all." She said with a wide grin.

"No excuses for when you lose, bitch."

"Well?" she taunted, inviting him to come at her with a few waves of her hand. "Let's go, baby."

And Cardin charged as he originally intended.

* * *

Tiella was easily dodging Cardin's swings with minimal movement of her body, barely stepping away from where she stood.

 _"Figures. A big weapon and heavy armor equal sitting fucking duck."_ she thought boredly, observing her opponents every move and mannerisms before making her move.

She ducked slightly, moving out of the way of a swing that nearly caught her head.

 _"This poor sap doesn't know how to fight another person."_

She thought for a moment while looking at Cardin's face that was steadily getting angrier and angrier.

"Stop running and fight back you stupid bitch!"

 _"I wonder how hard my Aura can handle?"_ Tiella thought, so she stood there, bracing herself for a swing that went for her midsection. _"There's gotta be a reason why they allow actual weapons in spars, right?"_

The strike sent her flying across the stage and skidding on the floor.

Cardin smirked, glad that he was finally able to land a hit on the slippery bitch, though his minor celebration didn't last long.

She stood back up with a kip up and checked herself all over for any injuries, ignoring Cardin who was already charging at her, holding his mace with one hand for a large swing from the right.

 _"Amazing... that should have broken my ribs along with my arm and back already! But I felt nothing more than a forceful bump!"_ Tiella grinned madly while giving herself another once-over.

 _"Aura's..."_

And without looking, she took one big step close into Cardin's range where his mace would miss and any swinging would be harder for him. She gave him a wide-eyed grin which sent _"Oh fuck"_ signals to his brain, making him reflexively move out of the way, however it was already too late.

She partially covered his field of vision with her open left palm, then sent an uppercut with all her might using her right, surprised to note that it was far faster than she ever expected she'd be able to do, testing the upper limits of how much her passive Aura enhancement raised her physical speed and strength.

The blow sent Cardin flying dozens of meters straight into the air, before landing on his head just a few meters where Tiella stood.

"...amazing," she said to herself while looking at her hands in that ever-present battle-mad grin, in no small amount of astonishment.

 _"I've created a monster."_

Was Glynda's only thought as she coolly watched Tiella grinning crazily in place. She silently feared for the boy's remaining dredges of dignity as she watched Tiella walk over to Cardin who was groggily getting up from the floor.

 _"Oum bless his soul."_

Tiella tightly grabbed Cardin by the shoulders and helped him up, dusting his armor off and then giving him a friendly pat on the shoulders. The still groggy Cardin couldn't understand what was happening, so, he was left watching Tiella sending him a friendly smile...

"You know, little boy... I didn't need Aura to beat you..."

which then turned into another mad grin as she took a step back, took a large wind up with her back, left arm relaxed and fist partially closed.

"But now _I'm gonna fuckin' tear ya a new one!_ "

At that moment, she was akin to a machine. A high-powered, well-oiled machine that spun from her large right toe all the way to the relaxed fist that was hurtling itself at blinding speeds towards Cardin's chest armor.

Cardin couldn't see the incoming attack, but he knew where it would be landing, so he raised his mace just in time to block the blow.

Her muscles were relaxed.

Her mind was calm.

She needed to be if she wanted to reach greater speeds.

And so, starting from the ever so slightly rotating toe, up to her half-closed fist, she was without tension.

Up until just before the moment of impact, when her fist crashed into the shaft of Cardin's mace.

Her toes gripped the floor tightly, her legs and thighs tightened, her butt clenched, her abdomen stiff, her chest hardened, her back and her arms up until her fists firmed. Chords of steel rippled through her body, springing all the tension she'd collected during the motion to release it all on one point.

The blow sent the weapon flying away, even as her fist continued to rush into Cardin's chest plate.

There was a loud clang that was heard from the stage, followed by a loud thud on a nearby wall.

Cardin was off the stage and partially planted into the wall, already unconscious with a visibly large dent over his plate armor.

Glynda's eyes were wide. She was stunned as she barely saw the whole thing happen, only registering the punch as soon as she heard the sound and saw Tiella's form instantly relaxing not even a second after making contact with Cardin's armor—her left arm pulled back close to her body.

The entire class was quiet for a moment, not understanding what had just happened. They watched silently as Tiella stood relaxed, arms akimbo, then suddenly reaching her right arm slightly to her side with an open palm, catching Cardin's mace that they hadn't even noticed was sent flying.

Team RWBY didn't know how to react, it was their first time seeing someone in class knocked out after two punches.

Team JNPR also didn't know how to react, it was their first time watching a match where they couldn't see or understand how the finishing blow worked.

Glynda eyed Tiella confusedly, then Cardin worriedly. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be officiating the spar, so she looked at the Aura levels of both fighters.

Tiella was at 79%, still in the green. Cardin, as she feared, however, was at 0%.

In a stern and loud voice, Glynda yelled, "The winner is Cardin Winchester! Celestiella Margory is disqualified!"

The class was confused by the verdict, so they immediately looked to Cardin's image on the first screen.

"Team CRDL," Glynda yelled to get the boys' attention and continued in a commanding tone, "get your leader to the nurse's office immediately! _Now!_ " urging the boys to action.

Glynda then angrily walked over to Tiella who was standing slightly wide-eyed at the verdict, already understanding what she'd likely done wrong. She grabbed Tiella's arm tightly and spoke in a hushed, angry voice.

"You. You're coming with me after class ends."

* * *

AN: _Hello Again!_

 _That's one week of uploading one chapter a day of Lost Star._

 _I'll be taking a couple days break to get back on some of my other hobbies while at the same time collecting material to continue more of Tiella's Slice of Life story in Remnant._

 _Reviews, please!_


	8. Chapter 8

AN: _Prepare your combat playlist because it'll be hype as fuck!_

 _You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there._

* * *

 _"Well, that was both amazing and disappointing."_ Tiella thought nonchalantly.

She already knew that she was screwed the moment she heard Glynda's frantic voice.

"You. You're coming with me after class." Glynda said with a glare.

"Yeah, yeah."

Tiella lightly forced her arm from Glynda's grip and gave her a serious look and spoke in a clear loud voice.

"Boys, I know first aid. Don't move him. I'll look at him."

"Like hell we'll let you touch Cardin again you bi-"

"Do you _want_ to end up like him? Because I don't mind taking care of 3 or 4 invalids for a day." Tiella cut sharply, her commanding tone leaving no room for argument.

"Tsk."

"Tch."

"Fine."

"Good boys. If you removed him from his position, any injuries he may already have could get worse. So, leave him to me." Tiella said contentedly as she strode over to the still unconscious Cardin. "And In case you forgot, I'm a staff member."

She took a knee in front of Cardin and run her hands over him, checking for his pulse and breathing. "So, let me wipe my own ass." she continued.

"Can anyone give me a flashlight?" Tiella asked in her still commanding tone while holding Cardin's face to check his head for any injuries, to which thankfully there were none.

"Here." The boy with the brown hair said, handing over his own scroll with the flashlight already on.

"Good." Tiella then opened one of Cardin's eyes and flashed the light directly into it, checking for a response. _"He's reacting normally, good."_

He returned the scroll back to the boy and slowly removed his chest plate, unbuckling the belts that hold it together and threw it away as soon as it was off, and ran her hand over his chest, shoulders, and flanks.

 _"No fractures... no dislocations... just a big fat bruise in the middle. Looks like he's sturdier than I thought. Holding him up to Bardel's standards might have been a tad too unfair of me. That idiot can take a HE grenade to the face and shrug it off if he was in tip-top condition."_

She reached her hand over to Cardin's back to do just the same, checking for any likely injuries.

 _"Dented armor... and no injuries other than maybe another big fat bruise."_ Tiella let out a sigh, to which the boys and Glynda started asking questions to.

"How is he?" Glynda asked for the boys.

"Well, he's sturdier than he looks," Tiella said while moving Cardin to her back. "No injuries other than a large bruise on his chest and likely his upper back. His Aura and armor cushioned most of the blow."

"So he's just unconscious?" Glynda asked to clarify.

"Just unconscious," Tiella confirmed. "I'll take him to the infirmary. Go ahead and continue without me."

Glynda gave a nod and urged the boys back to their seats, but Cardin's team wouldn't have it.

"But Professor Goodwitch, that bitch was the one who-"

"May I remind you that Ms. Margory, while not a Professor, still holds a position of authority in this school." Glynda cut sharply at the boy with slick dark blue hair. "So, any further disrespectful name-calling will be met with the _appropriate punishment_."

Glynda adjusted her glasses once more and continued, "She already knows that she's in trouble and is quickly taking care of the problem. I will also personally see to her punishment later. Now, go back to your seats."

"Yes, ma'am." The boys said in unison, resigned to the Deputy Headmistress's decision.

Glynda looked back at Tiella who just finished getting the still unconscious Cardin on a piggyback and spoke sternly. "Return as soon as you can."

"I will." And Tiella hurried toward the infirmary, careful not to place Cardin in a bad position to make his injuries worse than they already were.

* * *

"Did you guys see what happened?" Jaune asked Pyrrha who was also caught off guard by what just happened. "She just blew off Cardin's Aura when it was still way over half with that 2nd punch."

Pyrrha didn't look back to Jaune as she was intent on watching Tiella check on Cardin's condition but still answered, "It's an incredibly advanced version of the same technique I would sometimes employ with my strikes."

Jaune didn't say anything, but he and the rest of their friends listened to her closely. "It uses the principle of fluid dynamics with your strikes to make each hit go faster, thus hitting harder."

She watched as Tiella removed Cardin's chest armor, and continued her explanation. "In the world of martial arts, and not just hand to hand, a well-coordinated, rhythmic movement of one's body like that can result in a devastating blow, even if you punched from one inch away."

" _One inch?_ " Jaune asked incredulously. He found it hard to believe that a so-called one-inch-punch was enough to deal with a serious blow even through the help of Aura. "How does _that_ happen?"

"By pivoting on your feet as it stays secured to the ground and continuously adding spin starting from there going up to the point of contact, which is the fist in this case, with perfect timing and coordination, even a One-Inch Punch can knock the air out of a person's lungs."

Jaune and the rest sent Pyrrha varying degrees of surprise at the news of a so-called super punch. Ren, on the other hand, already heard of the technique and much like Pyrrha, employs it on some of his most devastating finishers.

"I still don't understand, how did she do it?" Jaune asked, trying to learn more of said technique for a future reference.

"Have you heard how a whip would make a loud snapping sound the moment it reaches the peak of its motion?" Pyrrha asked Jaune.

"Yes?"

"That snap you hear at the end is the sound of the tip breaking the sound barrier," Pyrrha explained. "Tiella's technique uses the same principle of fluid dynamics."

"So you're saying she just tried to punch Cardin like she was a whip?" Jaune asked, slowly understanding the idea behind the move.

"You could look at it that way," Pyrrha replied, smiling wryly.

"So that's why I saw her spinning from her toes first!" Ruby said, finally understanding the motion. As someone who uses a great scythe for a weapon, she understood the importance of fluid dynamics as she herself uses momentum to build up speed and control to deal lethal blows against even the Grimm's hardened bone armor.

"You _saw_ all that from here?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"Well, my Semblance is speed," Ruby started explaining shyly, "so after using it so many times, I just sort of got used to seeing things that move faster than normal."

Weiss nodded her head in acknowledgment after a moment of contemplation.

"It was so cool!" Ruby continued, "Even Yang couldn't do that unless she has her Semblance all charged up!"

"Uh, Ruby, yeah I could?" Yang said defensively.

"Yang, no, you can't."

"Yeah, I could."

"No, you can't."

"Yea-"

"So! What it all boils down to is that by adding a lot of spins, a simple straight punch can result in a devastating finisher, just like we all saw." Blake said clearly, trying to stop the sisters' argument by getting them back on track.

"Yes," Pyrrha said, glad that everyone understood clearly. "However, to reach a level of mastery like she showed, it would take tens of thousands of doing the same move over and over upon thousands upon thousands of hours hitting dummies, and that's just only for one move. I can see her applying the technique to all her moves if she could help it." she continued, her friends noting that she sounded oddly excited.

"That's... a lot of dedication," Jaune said in no small amount of awe.

"And even then she hasn't completely mastered the technique yet!" she finished.

"You sound really happy for some reason, Pyrrha," Jaune noted, happy to see that his partner was happy.

"Yes, well..." Pyrrha paused demurely, "...I like meeting strong people." she said with a shy smile. "It just goes to show how much of the world I haven't seen."

"That's the Mistral Tourney 4-Time Reigning Champ for you," Yang said coolly from her spot. "But yeah, I totally get you. I was already pumped up to fight her when I heard she'll be in the sparring rosters." Yang said in a grin.

"But after what you said, I'm _waaaay_ more eager now!" she finished, grinning ferociously with a loud bump of her fists, her eyes already glowing red.

"I can see why she's a staff member instead of a student now, too," Blake commented.

"So, why is she part of the spars?" Weiss asked.

"Maybe Goodwitch wants to give us a challenge? By letting a fully fledged Huntress join?" Yang guessed.

"You believe she's a fully fledged huntress?" Blake asked.

"I mean, isn't that proof enough?" Yang asked back.

"I wonder what she'll be like with her weapon..." Ruby wondered, thinking loudly from her seat.

The rest heard Ruby's innocent thought which indeed got all of them thinking.

Just how dangerous can the new hire be if she wanted to be?

* * *

 _"Where am I...?"_ He thought, feeling groggy for some reason. _"Am I moving?"_

He opened his eyes groggily, unsure of where he is and what's moving him. He lifted his head to see a better picture of his current situation. There he saw red hair from the back of someone's head.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" a girl's voice said.

"What happened..?" He asked, holding his head and suddenly feeling an intense soreness in his chest. "Ow...! Even my back hurts."

"Yeah, better not move yet. We're heading to the infirmary."

"Hey, what happened?"

"I knocked you out."

"Huh?"

Cardin said dumbfound, finally remembering what he saw during the one second where her fist was aiming for his chest. Pure madness in her eyes and terror in his guts.

"Tch. So, I lost."

"Nah, you won. I got DQ'd."

"Disqualified?"

"Yep." popping the 'p' sound. "Glynda decided that my punch was over the line." She said casually.

"So, I did lose," Cardin said, clearly very annoyed.

"Not officially, yeah."

They stayed quiet until they reached the infirmary and Tiella sat Cardin on one of the beds.

The infirmary was mostly empty, not even having a nurse present, which Tiella thought to be annoying. _"Now,_ _ **I**_ _gotta patch him up myself. Ozpin needs more than just a fucking helper for his professors if he's this understaffed, Jesus Christ."_

She moved to one of the shelves and took out a couple of tape and gauze. As soon as she got them, she turned but stopped when she saw a few cans of pain relief spray on a separate shelf. She tossed the bandages to Cardin's bed and went for one of the spray cans.

"Take your shirt off," Tiella said while taking out the can.

"What?" Cardin asked incredulously. "No way! You'd just love that wouldn't you?"

"Oh, don't go getting fucking horny on me, now." She said while walking over. "There's no nurse and I'm the only staff around."

She twirled the can in her hands while she waited for Cardin to take his shirt off. He did it gingerly, still feeling the pain whenever he tried moving his shoulders.

After a short while of quiet grunting, he got his shirt removed and put it on the side. Tiella immediately sprayed liberally on his bare chest and back.

"Ow! Give me a little warning next time, holy crap."

"You'll be fine," Tiella said, now moving on to bandaging him properly. "You took a blow from me and woke up soon after. Now, stop squirming or I'll hit you."

" _What a nurse._ "

"S'cuse me?"

"..."

"That's what I thought."

Tiella was quietly bandaging Cardin for a moment, focused on her work. Cardin, on the other hand, didn't know what to feel.

On one hand, he's still pissed that she humiliated him, then she knocked him out in two punches in front of the whole class. On the other hand, he can acknowledge that she did have the bragging rights with all the strength and skill to back her up. He always did admire strength.

He was also a little self-conscious that a girl in what amounts to nothing more than a sports bra and _short_ shorts, who doesn't look _too bad_ if he had to admit, was patching him up.

"So, why were you bullying the girl?" Tiella said, unknowingly pulling him out of his reverie.

"Huh?"

"The Faunus girl."

"Isn't it obvious? They're freaks acting like we're equals. I was just putting her in her rightful place." Cardin said arrogantly.

"I've seen that _'freak'_ do her morning training and I'm pretty sure she can wipe the floor with you and your boy band in a match all by herself," Tiella said coolly.

"You can't prove that," he replied indignantly.

"Actually, I can. But that's not the point." Tiella said, still bandaging. "The point is, _why?_ What's _your_ point? What made you do it? If your point was to tell everyone at the cafeteria that you're a _huge cunt_ , then congratulations—you just did and with flying colors, too."

"Hmph."

"But I wanna know, why?"

"What do you care?"

"Because I'm part of the staff and it's my job to make sure you guys don't graduate while staying full-on cunts? Because I'm curious? Because one way or another, I've become friends with Velvet? I can give you a lot of reasons but we're not talking about me. We're talking about you."

Now finished with the bandaging, Tiella took a stool and sat cross-legged in front of Cardin who was still contemplating answering.

"Come on, no judgments here. I just wanna know, so let's talk." Tiella said encouragingly.

Cardin stayed pensive. Looking at the floor and around the room while thinking back on his early childhood days.

"All my life I was taught by my family and friends that all Faunus are inferior to humans." Cardin started, leaning on his knees with both elbows.

"..."

"And that it was our job as the superior race to make sure they don't get too full of themselves."

"..."

"And with the rise of the White Fang, my dad figured, I should become a Huntsman to protect the humans from them."

"..."

"So, here I am."

 _"So, it's the daddy that got him into thinking like that. Nothin' I could do about it. Can't teach an old dog new tricks, after all. Unless I scare him into it, I guess. But fuck that, I'm not gonna bother with that ass hat."_ Tiella thought as she contemplated Cardin's words.

"So, the 4 of you ganging up on a girl that doesn't wanna fight back is justice to you?"

"..."

"Ever had any Faunus friends when you were a kid? Do you ever remember a time from way before you were taught to think like that?"

Cardin couldn't figure out what Tiella was trying to get at. _"What's this girl's memo?"_ has been running on his mind since they began.

"Y'know, I've only known Velvet for no longer than a day but she's a real sweetheart," Tiella said, arms crossed in front of her. "I didn't really feel bad for her when I saw you bullying her, though I did wonder why a supposed huntress-in-training—who was also a second year—wasn't fighting back to defend herself."

"..."

"Anything she could have done to you would have been in her defense, and in the worst case scenario, she'd get a suspension while you and your buddies get the boot off the first Airship away from here."

"..."

"But she didn't." Tiella leaned over. "Do you wanna know why?"

Cardin instinctively moved back—intimidated and unable to say anything.

"Because she's a Faunus," Tiella said and moved back to her original pose. "And because she's a Faunus, anything violent against humans that she does, even in self-defense, can be related to the Fang's ideology. Though you're gonna have some _insane_ mental gymnastics to be convinced of self-defense as being supportive of an international terrorist group."

"..."

"Now, let's take a break from the politics here, I know how annoying it is. It annoys me too." She said with a wave of her hand.

"Let's focus instead, on how you, your boys, and Velvet, are all huntsmen-to-be."

"..."

"Can you imagine, being in a desperate situation where you're in severe need of backup while out on a Grimm hunt or worse, a Grimm invasion..?"

"..."

"...so you try to call for backup, it's only normal. It's something that you should expect as part of the job. But then someone tells you that the nearest Huntsman available that can easily get to you is Velvet Scarlatina."

"..."

"What if, in your dire moment, she skips out—thinking _'Oh, I don't wanna save that guy, he bullied me back in Beacon.'_?"

"..."

"Wait, no. That's too virtue-signaling even for me. And honestly, I doubt Velvet wouldn't go saving you in that case. She's just that sweet of a girl. Just, what if, instead..." she said, continuing in a casual grin. "that instead of Beacon students seeing your bullying in action, the people of Vale did?"

Cardin's eyes slightly went wide at the thought as he's been trying to follow Tiella's train of thought since she started talking.

"Do you think the people of Vale would put their trust in you and your boys? That they'd be happy to call you for help and in turn help you in your time of need?" she said while leaning in close again.

"I don't think a lot of people would be willing, no," Tiella said while standing up.

"When the people see that their supposed heroes, symbols of peace and prosperity, are acting like a bunch of assholes like the White Fang, how disillusioned do you think they'll feel? How disillusioned will an 8-year-old Cardin feel if he saw his favorite huntsman act like a jackass towards one of Vale's citizens?"

Tiella stood by the door, eyeing the now contemplative Cardin still sitting in his bed.

"I'm not saying this to feel good about myself and make you feel bad." She said. "I was in a similar place as you, kid. I thought little of the people around me, too, but I was lucky enough that those same people had my back in the time I needed someone the most," she said as if looking back on a fond memory.

"Just letting you know as a senior in life."

"Aren't you just a year older or something."

"Yup!" she said with a beaming smile. "So, listen to Big Sis and think things over with your boys, alright? I'll be heading back to class, you stay here until a nurse arrives or something. Take care, kid."

She went off without looking back or waiting for Cardin to respond.

* * *

 _"Baby steps."_ Tiella thought to herself while walking back. _"Can't expect to see big changes on the first day. Though hopefully, they'll at least try to think things through. Ugh, god I hate stupid fucking kids and their god damned hormones."_

When she finally got back to Combat Class, she took the long way around the stage to move over to Glynda, who was sitting on a chair, watching the fight between two kids she didn't know.

"So, what's my punishment?" Tiella said as soon as she took a seat next to Glynda.

"We'll decide on that later. How is Mr. Winchester?"

"Was groggy for a bit, but we had a nice heart to heart talk and we're on good terms now."

Glynda was glad to hear that the student was fine, but stared at Tiella incredulously for a short moment before speaking. "Did you cry in his arms?"

"I can't believe you'd bring that up right now. I hate you so much, Glynda." Tiella said, hiding her face in his palms. " _I hate you so much._ "

"Well, for now, you're free to return to the spars, so long as you're the one being challenged into it and you holding back properly," Glynda said, returning to her more professional attitude. "We'll talk about what you did earlier after class as well," she said, adjusting her glasses.

"Sure," Tiella said, leaning back on her chair, arms and legs crossed.

After two more random selections, it was time for the Volunteer matches. Glynda was standing in the middle of the stage while holding her scroll and adjusting her glasses.

"Students, it's time for the Volunteer Matches. Who'd like to be the firs-" Glynda paused when she saw hands shoot up even before she could finish speaking. "My, how eager." she continued, delighted to see that her students were eager to participate.

"Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Nikos for the first match," Glynda noted. "Please, head dow-"

"Actually, Professor..." Yang chimed in from her seat, a little giddy that she interrupted Professor Goodwitch of all people. "I have someone I want to challenge."

"I as well, Professor," Pyrrha said from her seat, giving each other a knowing look.

And then they spoke in unison, "We challenge Tiella to a match!"

Glynda was surprised at the two students. Though, with how Yang was always trying to pick a good fight and Pyrrha holding the top spot ever since the first day, she should have expected it with the presence of a new contender.

The girl in question was still sitting arms and legs crossed. However, she was definitely surprised to hear that the girls she met during lunch were raring to go against her.

"I'm afraid Ms. Margory's already finished a match. Why don't you two have a ma-" Glynda, again was interrupted.

"So, how's it gonna be? A 2 v 1? A free-for-all? Are those even allowed?" Tiella asked, already on her feet and doing light stretches.

"That will depend on Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Nikos," Glynda said, adjusting her glasses, not letting the interruptions get to her. "Girls?"

Yang and Pyrrha looked at each other for a bit, contemplating their choices.

"A free for all, please."

"Yeah, I wanted a rematch with Pyrrha anyway."

"Very well. Please, head into the locker room to prepare." Glynda said clearly. "Your match will begin as soon as everyone's on stage."

"Oh, can I join too!?" Nora said from her own seat. Ren already sighing in exasperation from beside her.

"Ms. Valkyrie," Glynda said, internally sighing. "Are you girls fine with this?"

"Oh, yeah!" Yang said in a big wide grin.

"Yes, I'm fine with it as well," Pyrrha said politely.

"I'm down." Tiella shrugged.

"Yes! You will bow to your Queen!" Nora said jovially, jumping from her seat and onto the stage.

"I'll have you know that I live in a free country," Tiella replied cheekily.

All four girls went into the locker room to get ready, leaving the crowd excited in their seats for the first ever free for all match since classes started weeks ago.

"Who do you think will win?" Jaune asked his remaining friends.

"I dunno, Yang and Nora's never won a match against Pyrrha, but that was 1 v 1. And now we have Tiella in the mix, too." Ruby said contemplatively. "I hope Yang wins."

"I feel that unless Tiella fights seriously, Pyrrha will still come out on top," Weiss said from her own seat. "She said so herself, she's not one to take spars seriously."

"I think Nora will win," Blake said from beside Weiss. "It's a free for all," she stated matter-of-factly.

"What about you, Ren? Who do you think will win?" Jaune asked. "I think it'll be Pyrrha but it's a tough match."

"It's still a little early to say, but if I was a betting man..." Ren said, thinking about the possible outcomes of the match. "I believe that Nora will win, however that will depend on Tiella, as Weiss said."

* * *

"Oh, I can't wait to take you all down," Yang said, changing into her own battle attire.

"It is my duty as Queen to discipline her people!" Nora chimed.

"I look forward to a good match," Pyrrha said politely.

"I hope you girls don't disappoint like my first match," Tiella said cheekily.

"Oh, it's definitely on now," Yang said, biting the obvious taunt, punching her fists together loudly.

Everyone in the locker room shared a lighthearted laugh while changing. Tiella as well, choosing to put on her pants, combat boots, and fingerless gloves, as she feels that her next match will definitely force her to a wall if they all chose to collapse on her.

Tiella eyed each of her opponent's weapons, trying to figure out how they'll be fighting while formulating a possible plan to counter-attack.

 _"A bracelet that shifts into some kinda half-vambrace with a... is that a muzzle? So, it's also a gun? Wait, those shells... a_ _ **fucking**_ _shotgun? How is_ _ **that**_ _allowed?_

 _What about my little sister here? A traditional sword and shield? Reminds me of Lillianne. Wait, that's a lot of unnecessary things put on there... don't tell me it transforms into something else, too?_

 _And what about our Queen? An actual_ _ **fucking grenade launcher?**_ _What in the ever-loving_ _ **fuck**_ _are the people here thinking letting kids weaponize themselves like this?_

 _Are they all actually fucking insane? Do they even have licenses? Oh my god,_ _ **what in the actual the fuck**_ _."_

 _"Jesus-fucking-me-sideways-Christ."_ Tiella was keeping a straight face as she observed her opponents and their absurd weapon choices, actually considering grabbing one or two of her weapons as well. _"No. No kill needed, no weapon needed. If I lose, I lose. I just need to get good."_

 _"Besides, this should be a good test for me and my Aura. How far has my training taken me? This is gonna be a blast."_

And it was.

* * *

They all stood in the arena, equal ways apart from each other.

The crowd was silent, waiting for someone to make the first move.

The four combatants were circling each other at the same pace, eyeing each and everyone—wary of any sudden movements.

The tension could be felt even from the seats, everyone felt various levels of giddiness—waiting in anticipation for the first strike.

The clock showed 3:21:06 pm.

Until...

Tiella made a sudden reach to her back, forcing the other three to act.

Yang charged in, aiming for Tiella with a flying punch, propelled by Ember Celica's blasts.

Nora shot a grenade in the general direction of Yang and Tiella.

Pyrrha jumped back, Akoúo raised and Miló in rifle form aimed steadily at Nora.

Tiella rushed to her right and threw her dud grenade in the direction of Nora while covering Yang's field of vision with an open palm with her left hand.

Tiella's grenade bumped with Nora's, causing it to explode prematurely.

Yang didn't need to see Tiella to know that she's still within range, so she threw a punch—shooting at where Tiella would be had she dodged right.

Pyrrha shielded herself from the premature incoming explosion, covering her face with Akoúo while still in midair from her jump and shot at Nora, causing her to jump to her right.

3:21:07 pm.

And the explosion was soon heard, covering the arena in dust and smoke.

Without seeing anything, the crowd heard the sound of gunshot and metal clanging against each other, among other smaller explosions.

A few moments later, Yang and Pyrrha jumped away from the smoke in opposite directions before rushing in again as soon as they hit the ground.

Yang shot Ember Celica backward to increase her forward momentum and to prepare another flying punch going in while Pyrrha raised her Akoúo with Miló in spear form held on her right hand already in the middle of being thrown.

The dust cloud cleared at the same time, revealing Nora disarmed and having a pushing match with Tiella, with Nora winning. Both hands grabbing each other's while Magnhild spun in the air.

Tiella saw Pyrrha charging in with a thrown spear while Nora saw Yang flying in with a superman punch. Tiella and Nora then looked at each other and grinned, already having planned their next move.

With the tension from Nora still pushing to make her fall, Tiella intentionally fell back, letting Nora fall forward—catching her off guard. Tiella then caught Nora with her boots and pushed her over to where Yang was flying in and coincidentally, where Miló was going.

Tiella continued rolling over to get her feet back on the ground before she went charging for Pyrrha.

Yang saw Nora flying at her so she aimed her punch at her instead. Nora, after noticing Yang aiming for her, pivoted in the air and caught her arm. She then continued her revolution and let go of Yang's arm, shielding herself from Miló using Yang.

Pyrrha saw Tiella coming for her low on the ground, likely aiming for her legs, so she threw Akoúo at Tiella to make her keep her distance.

Tiella saw the shield coming, so she caught it instead and was a little surprised to note that it was a little heavier than it looked. She then threw her shield behind her, to where Nora was just about to land and slid on the ground to sweep Pyrrha off her legs.

Yang, after getting hit by Miló on the back, caught it while still falling, then shot outwards with Ember Celica to land on Pyrrha's flying shield. After landing, she tried to stab Nora where she landed, crouching on the floor. Nora saw Yang coming, so she jumped up and then used Yang as a stepping stone to jump higher as Yang buried Miló deep into the floor.

Pyrrha, now unarmed, jumped over Tiella who was sliding in and went running for her Akoúo. She saw Nora jump over Yang, so she dove to get to Akoúo faster.

Nora, still in midair, caught her still falling Magnhild and transformed it into its hammer form. Then, she saw Pyrrha diving for her shield and aimed to stop her by shooting controlled explosions in the air to propel her towards Pyrrha for a devastating hammer fall.

Tiella stopped her slide on the ground and quickly made a turn. She saw Yang and Nora collapsing on Pyrrha, both likely aiming to deal explosive damage to stop her from getting to her own shield and spear. So, she ran around them as fast as she could to get to Pyrrha's buried Miló while Nora was still falling sharply and Yang was pouncing on Pyrrha.

Pyrrha saw Yang and Nora aiming to stop her from getting to her Akoúo, so she put her hands on the ground while still in the middle of her dive and pivoted in place to perform a wide sweep kick at Yang, which sent the blonde brawler flying backward. She then used her other leg to kick Akoúo off the ground as she spun further and into the air. Pyrrha immediately got back on her feet in a crouch and caught Akoúo, then used it to block Nora's hammer just in the nick of time.

Tiella saw Yang kicked towards the spear she was going for, so she went for another slide to grab it as she went. After grabbing the spear, she jumped backward and into the air, aiming to pin Yang to the ground with Pyrrha's spear.

Nora triggered a larger explosion after her strike got blocked by Pyrrha to leave her disoriented while at the same time creating distance between them. As soon as she was in the air, she transformed Magnhild back to her grenade launcher form.

Pyrrha was blown away by the large blast and was spinning in the air. She dug Akoúo into the floor to stop her flight and immediately stood low. She saw Nora land on her feet with Magnhild in grenade launcher form, already aiming to fire—so she threw Akoúo at Magnhild as fast as she could.

Yang saw Tiella aiming for her gut from above, so she sent her an uppercut shotgun blast to parry her blow. She then forcefully landed on the floor due to the recoil and rolled back to her feet to see Tiella spinning away in the air. She then saw Nora aiming for her, so she got Ember Celica ready to shoot long ranged shells at Nora and Tiella who was still spinning.

Tiella saw Yang shooting for her, so she readied Miló to swat away and slash the bullets coming for her as she continuously spun parallel to the ground.

Nora had already pulled the trigger once before she saw Akoúo already flying at her, so she aimed at Pyrrha and shot out once more before transforming Magnhild back into hammer form to bat Akoúo towards Tiella who was busy defending herself from Yang's attack. She then got hit by two of Yang's shells and was sent skidding on the floor.

Pyrrha successfully dodged over Nora's grenade and paused to take in the situation.

Tiella had successfully defended herself from Yang's bullet barrage and saw Akoúo coming for her from Nora's direction, so she threw Miló at Nora as she landed and grabbed Akoúo to throw at Yang, which hit her square in the head—knocking her down.

With only her and Pyrrha standing, both unarmed, they rushed at each other to fight close quarters.

Tiella jabbed high with a left, going for Pyrrha's jugular. But Pyrrha ducked low, stepped close and pushed Tiella back with a forceful bump of her hip.

When Pyrrha went in, Tiella raised her knee to stop her movement. Then she used the same arm she used to jab to elbow Pyrrha on her exposed nape from above.

Pyrrha blocked Tiella's elbow just in the nick of time using her arm guard and hit her back using her free hand with a palm strike into her abdomen, pushing her back a few steps.

They went back into melee range once again and started throwing a great variety of punches and kicks at each other at incredible speeds, and while it was clear that Tiella was the faster striker, Pyrrha was a better grappler.

Tiella would parry most of Pyrrha's punches and kicks but would have trouble countering her attempts at throwing her away or to the ground.

Pyrrha went in with a powerful right straight to Tiella's face, but Tiella ducked and went for Pyrrha's back to hit her in the back of her head with a right hook of her own.

Pyrrha turned just in time to catch Tiella's fist with her right hand. She managed to see Tiella's cool and focused expression before Tiella followed through with her right hook to hit her sharp in the forehead with her right elbow, leaving her a little dizzy and pushed back a few steps.

Pyrrha tried to counter with a right knee but was easily stopped by Tiella stomping on it with her right foot and used it to raise herself off the floor to do a strong high kick that again hit her right in the face, Tiella rotating on top of Pyrrha's right knee all the while.

Pyrrha was sent skidding a few meters on the floor before standing back up with a roll while Tiella was already rolling away to dodge Nora dropping in with her hammer.

Nora quickly spun her hammer from her left hand, going to her midsection, then up to her shoulders and neck, then down to her right hand to build a large amount of momentum before swatting Tiella far away with a wide swing just soon after Tiella finished rolling.

Yang then came in with a yell from above, going for Nora's head. She missed and went straight for a haymaker with her left hand that Nora caught with the shaft of Magnhild. So, Yang responded by triggering her close ranged explosive shells to push her back a few steps.

Nora shifted her weight and spun Magnhild around her once more to build more momentum before Yang could come close.

Yang charged in and jumped, propelled faster and higher by the blasts of Ember Celica and aimed for an ax kick on Nora's head.

Nora saw the move coming and went for a big windup from below.

And as soon as Yang was within range, Nora hit her hard—sending Yang flying up and away.

Nora celebrated a little as there was no one else to be seen, but she heard gunshots from behind, so she turned to block them with Magnhild, but only barely.

Pyrrha, now back to being armed, came charging in, transforming Miló to its sword form before sprinting for a strong shield bash.

Nora did a big windup once more to swat Pyrrha away as she did with Yang, but as soon as she made contact with Pyrrha's shield, she was the one that was sent far away by a force unknown to her, Magnhild flying away from her as well. Pyrrha capitalized on Nora's lack of arms by rushing for her once more.

At just a few meters away, Yang and Tiella were going at it _mano y shotguntlets_.

Yang sent a sharp left hook with a blast from Ember Celica aiming for Tiella's head and another one with her right, but she ducked under both and sent two quick and strong jabs at Yang's midsection then went for a heavy uppercut with her left hand that lifted Yang up a few feet.

Tiella capitalized on this by grabbing Yang by the leg and pulling her back to her before sending a powerful downward punch to her midsection using her technique—hoping to knock Yang out of the fight.

Yang was sent forcefully to the floor with a loud thud and laid there for a while.

Tiella turned her head away, looking for where Nora and Pyrrha were fighting—but was suddenly stopped by a hand on her leg. She was then quickly dragged on the floor and thrown up into the air by Yang who was back on her feet, hair catching fire with her eyes a glowing bright red.

Yang then jumped into the air and unleashed the full brunt of her Semblance onto Tiella, sending her crashing towards the other two who were still fighting.

Nora and Pyrrha barely noticed a flying Tiella crashing their way like a meteor before they tried to move away, however it was already too late. Pyrrha was first hit from behind, then was carried toward Nora who was just in front of Pyrrha, and into the ground, barely slowing down in speed.

The three girls crashed hard, much like a meteorite, leaving a small crater where they landed and a large dust smoke hiding them from the crowd.

3:23:09 pm.

* * *

Glynda then spoke in a clear voice, "And that's the match."

The lights then went back on for the whole class, revealing three groggy girls on top of each other on the other side of the arena where Yang stood.

Four screens flashed atop the stage, revealing the aura levels of all four fighters:

Yang at 27%, yellow and just barely in the red.

Nora at 21%, in the red.

Pyrrha at 20%, in the red.

And finally, Tiella at 6%, critically in the red.

"And the winner is Ms. Xiao Long!" Glynda announced. "Well done, Ms. Xiao Long. It was a very close fight for everyone and you were quite close to being the first to go but you managed to turn it around with the perfect use of your Semblance, excellent work," she said, praising her student for waiting at the perfect moment to strike the deciding blow.

"Oh yeah!" Yang cheered loudly, doing a fist pump in place and raising her hands high over her head at the crowd. "I finally beat Pyrrha! Woohoooo!"

"Wooohhh! Awesome match sis!" Ruby cheered loudly, standing from her seat.

"I didn't think she'd actually win," Blake said in mild awe. "What _is_ Yang's semblance anyway? I never really managed to ask."

"Yang gets stronger for every hit she takes, building up energy inside her for one big blow where she returns everything altogether with her own Aura back to her enemies."

"So, that's how she turned everything around," Weiss noted.

"I'm so proud of Yang," Ruby said fondly.

Ruby then saw Yang giving her a thumbs up from the stage, to which she returned a big goofy smile of her own. Truly happy for her sister's win.

* * *

AN: _Hello Again!_

 _I hope I delivered well on the fatal four-way. Because I honestly had so much fun writing that part. God, I love fight scenes._

 _Who did you expect to win? Did you expect Yang? Or was it someone else?_

 _How about the other parts of the match? Do you see the canon characters doing the same thing as I wrote here themselves in an actual fight?_

 _And finally what about the talk with Cardin?_

 _Reviews please, and thank you!_


	9. Chapter 9

AN: _I just finished marathoning RWBY V6 yesterday_

 _And wow my eyes sure were sweaty in Episode 9._

* * *

When Tiella woke up, it was already 4:16 pm.

She was on one of the beds, still wearing her sparring gear. She looked around to be more familiar with her surroundings and the first thing she saw was her dress shirt that was folded neatly on the table to her right.

To her left was an empty chair and an open window. The wind was blowing in gently—carrying the background noise of the students outside.

She stood from her bed and gave herself a once-over to check for any injuries. After noting that there was nothing wrong other than mild exhaustion and a sore spot on her left flank, she judged that she was good to go. So she wore her dress shirt, leaving the top two buttons open.

She walked towards the door and saw that Cardin was no longer there, probably back with his friends. She then checked her pockets for anything amiss and found that all her stuff wasn't gone.

 _"Now then... should be a good time to meet with Ozpin and Glynda."_ She thought, already heading towards the Deputy Headmistress's Office.

As soon as she got there, she knocked twice and waited for an answer.

"Come in." came the voice from beyond the door. Taking it as her cue, she quickly opened the door, went in and shut it behind her.

"How was the rest of the class?" Tiella asked Glynda who was having a cup of tea by her desk.

"After you passed out, we had 5 more matches until the class ended. I had Ms. Xiao Long carry you to the infirmary, you should thank her later."

Tiella walked over to one of the available couches and took a seat herself.

"So what have you decided for me?"

"Personally, I'd have you suspended for 1 day, but I feel that in this particular case, we should speak with Ozpin."

"What makes it special?"

"You've only had your Aura unlocked no more than 3 hours ago, so it is only natural that you were quite unfamiliar with your limits," Glynda said coolly. "Though of course, that doesn't excuse you possibly fatally wounding a student."

"I mean, I guess..?"

"For now we will be meeting with Ozpin. Come with me." Glynda said, already moving from her seat and toward the door.

"Okay." Tiella followed suit.

* * *

 _At the grand clocktower..._

"I see," Ozpin said while looking out the window, back turned to Glynda and Tiella.

"Yes, and because she's new to Aura, I felt that this should be handled a differently," Glynda said.

Tiella and Glynda were in their usual seats while in Ozpin's office. Glynda finished her report on the incident during her class, so Ozpin was now taking a little moment to think of the proper way to punish Tiella.

The girl in question has been oddly quiet since the report began, not really saying any sarcastic remarks like she usually would at any given opportunity.

"Tiella, can you tell me what lead to your decisions that lead to this incident?" Ozpin turned, facing Tiella who sat with arms and legs crossed.

"Well, it was my first time experiencing Aura, so I got a little bit of a blood rush and just sort of tested my upper limits on the poor guy without really thinking of the possible consequences," Tiella said honestly.

"I see."

"It's not really an excuse, but it's more or less my reason for why it happened." she continued.

"Well, it's good that you're honest," Ozpin said, sipping from his mug. "I've decided on your punishment."

Tiella slightly stiffened in place for a moment, preparing herself for the worst. Glynda was sipping her tea coolly.

Ozpin looked back outside the window and said, "You will be moving in with Glynda starting tonight." then casually sipped.

"What," Tiella asked, dumbfounded and wide-eyed.

"What!?" Glynda asked, angry and confused.

Ozpin sipped more coffee and continued. "I believe it is the perfect way to both punish and assist Tiella." He fully turned to face the ladies and walked over to his desk.

"Tiella will have further surveillance while you teach her more about Aura. You've already proposed to personally teach her earlier, have you not?"

"Well, yes, but..." Glynda said, understanding Ozpin's point but still feeling uneasy about the decision.

"Good! Now, Tiella, here's your advance." Ozpin said while reaching for a wallet for Tiella to retrieve from his desk.

"Uh... thanks..?" She said, unsure of what to feel. For one thing, she hated being babysat but it was certainly a good opportunity to further learn about Aura. And she doesn't really mind living _with_ Glynda.

She checked the contents and found only cards within it, so she took one out and studied it where she stood.

" _That_ is Lien." Ozpin said after seeing a confused Tiella, "What you're holding is worth 5,000 Lien. And there are 3 of those inside in total."

"Ah, I was used to paper money and credit cards where I was from," Tiella said, putting the card back and pocketing the wallet.

"This will also be how I will be paying you. You will receive half of your salary on a bi-weekly basis. Though your next payment would be at least a month from now, so do try not to spend everything until then." Ozpin continued.

"Any schedules on paydays then?"

"Payday is usually on the 10th and 25th day of each month."

"Gotcha."

"Now then, I believe you have a prior business to attend to?" Ozpin asked knowingly.

"Spying on not only your students but also your employees? That's not very cash money of you, Ozpin." Tiella suddenly remembered, already walking for the door. "Thanks, Ozpin, and don't be too hard on Glynda!"

Ozpin smiled wryly as Tiella closed the door, then looked back to the still contemplating Glynda.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Ozpin started, addressing Glynda from her seat. "Officially it's for you to keep an eye on her."

"But you really just want to cut costs because you couldn't find a room for her, isn't that right, Ozpin?"

Ozpin didn't answer. He only sipped his coffee while avoiding eye contact.

"Your silence speaks volumes, Ozpin."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Glynda. Despite her sharp tongue and rough personality, I can see that she has a good heart."

"I'm less worried about her and more worried about me, but very well. If it is the Headmaster's wish, then I will oblige." Glynda said, resigned to having a roommate who was just over a decade younger than her.

* * *

As soon as Tiella got back to her room, she took a quick shower to freshen up after all the beating she got.

 _"Aura's pretty damn amazing."_ She thought while letting the warm water shower over her. _"Explains the whole academy for hunters thing. Not a lot of actual threats to a person if you have one."_

She touched her flank, sore where she got hit by Yang's finisher. _"And damn, everyone hits hard. Especially that blonde girl. And they're still first years, right? Damn."_

She finished her shower and turned off the faucet, but stood there for a moment, still thinking.

 _"I wonder what my Semblance is gonna be?"_

After the shower, she got a fresh batch of clothes and went for Team CFVY's dorm in room 206.

Tiella knocked on the door twice, and not a moment longer, Yatsuhashi in his casual clothes opened the door. "Tiella," he said politely with a small bow of his head.

"Heya big guy. Seen my dates around?" Tiella said, giving one of the few people that were taller than her at Beacon her own casual smile.

"Yes, they're just inside. Let me call them for you." he then went back in without closing the door. "Coco, Velvet. Tiella's come to pick you up."

"I'll be there in a minute!" Coco's voice said from far inside the room, in the bathroom if Tiella had to guess.

Velvet's bunny ears peeked out from inside and invited her with a small smile. "Why don't you come in first? We figured you'd need a little longer to rest up after your free for all with the first years."

"Thanks, V," Tiella said while letting herself in. "And honestly, I didn't expect it. Those first years were pretty good."

They sat by Velvet's bed while waiting for Coco to finish. Velvet had her hair in a half-pony and was wearing a 3/4 sleeved white buttoned-up blouse tucked into a brown plaid skirt that reached just above her knees, emphasizing her bust and fairly slim waist. She wore black socks that reached just below her knees with brown doll shoes, and on her arms were a few gold-colored bracelets on her left and a gold-colored bangle on her right.

She also had a box hanging just behind her, which Tiella believed was her bag. Simple, cute, and stylish.

"Lookin' good, V," Tiella commented after giving Velvet a quick once-over.

"Thanks." Velvet said demurely. "From what I know, the girls you fought are among the top of their year level," she commented offhandedly while brushing her hair and patting her ears.

"Pyrrha Nikos coming in at first by a large margin, Yang Xiao Long at second, Nora Valkyrie at third, Ruby Rose at fourth, and Weiss Schnee at fifth, if I remember correctly." she continued.

"They definitely earned the spots at least," Tiella said while thinking back. "You seem to know a lot about them too."

"It's just that they've been slowly making a name for themselves. And it's _the_ Pyrrha Nikos too."

"My little sis?"

"Pyrrha's your _sister?_ " Velvet asked in mild surprise.

"Nah, not really. I just like to call her that because we're both redheads." Tiella said while giving Velvet a cheeky grin.

"And from what I heard, you're no slouch yourself, Chelly," Coco said while coming out of the bathroom. "Getting challenged by Nikos herself and fighting in that rumble barehanded? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were underestimating them."

Coco was wearing her usual attire—a long, cocoa-colored shirt with a dark brown waist cincher. For her legs, she wore long, dark brown trousers with ribbons on the left side and a brown belt with cartridges. Above it, she wore another cocoa-colored belt of cartridges with a gold cross-hairs buckle. What appeared to be a drape of black skirt hangs on her right side. She wore a pair of dark brown, high-heeled leather boots with buckles. Among _a lot_ of other accessories.

Very classy and stylish.

"I even heard _you_ gave Pyrrha a run for her money on hand to hand," Coco said, peeking from the top of her shades in a grin.

"They were pretty good and they really got me going, especially my little sister, but it's just a spar," Tiella said with a wave of her hand. "Not really an accurate way to know how someone would do when the real thing comes."

"That's true... I've seen a lot of good first years that froze on the spot when it was time for the real thing." Velvet said from beside her.

"Anyway! I'm done changing. Let's go?" Coco said, arms akimbo.

"Is it fine to bring your weapons into the city?" Tiella asked after eyeing Coco's belt.

"Yeah, it's another way to keep the streets safe by letting us hunter trainees patrol the streets whenever we go into the city," Coco explained while leading them out the door.

"Now, after you." Velvet going out first.

"And after you." Tiella following second.

"We'll be back a little later tonight, boys. Take care of the room." Coco said in a wink and a wave.

"Have fun," Fox said, and the door shut.

* * *

 _"That's a nice view."_ Tiella thought while looking out the window of the airship.

The airship just took off no longer than a minute ago and already Tiella was loving the view. It showed a beautiful landscape of tall buildings, dense forest parks, and surrounding city districts that all lead into the city center where most of the business was likely conducted.

 _"It's sorta like any big city on Earth but way smaller in scale."_ Tiella thought, still admiring the view of the incoming city as they neared an empty landing pod. _"Grimm probably make it a huge pain to expand borders."_

"How do you like the view?" Velvet asked from beside her.

"It's lovely." Tiella replied without looking back, "Kinda reminds me of home." she said in a whisper, a nostalgic expression on her face.

"What's your home like?" Velvet asked innocently, tilting her head to lean closer to Tiella. Coco was quietly listening to the conversation, interested in learning more about the tall girl.

"It's..." Tiella said, contemplating what to say without giving her away. "it's lovely, just like this one, but... it's a place I can never go back to." She said, giving Velvet a casual smile, although her eyes expressed otherwise.

The two girls said nothing, guessing in their minds what Tiella was trying to imply. Was her home run down by Grimm? Was it taken by bandits? Was it connected to her reason for coming to Vale so empty-handed? They'd never know unless they ask—though they also knew that asking would be pointless—because they understood from her answer that it's something she's not willing to talk about. Not yet at least.

So they'll wait.

"Is it your first time in the city?" Coco asked soon after getting off the airship.

"Yep, so let's get the important bits first before we do anything else," Tiella said while doing some light stretches to work out the kinks.

Velvet leaned close to Coco and Tiella and spoke softly—careful not to let any other people hear—with a small smile, "So let's go get new ones for Tiella before we go giving her a complete makeover."

At that moment, Coco was reminded of how cute and adorable Velvet could be without even trying. Tiella was only realizing just how deadly cute the girl was.

"Coco," Tiella said while looking at Velvet with arms crossed and a serious look on her face.

"No, you can't have Velvet for a day," Coco replied—preemptively shutting Tiella down—already knowing what she was going to say.

"But what if I asked for half a day?" Tiella continued.

"What do I get?"

"What do you want?"

"A complete overhaul of your dry looks."

"As long as I approve of the new look, then you've got yourself a deal."

"I'll make sure we agree on something."

And both girls shook on it, ignoring the distraught bunny girl who could only look at them with disbelieving eyes.

"C-Coco!? W-What do you think you're doing!?" shocked that her partner would sell her off so easily.

"Let's go, Velvs. The sooner we get Chelly's stuff, the sooner I can get her out of those bland clothes." Coco said while dragging Velvet away with one arm interlocked with hers.

"Sue me. My entire wardrobe is made up of the school's issued uniform for both men and women other than my own combat gear." Tiella replied dryly while jogging to catch up.

" _That_ is the most _offensive_ thing I've heard in a year," Coco said while peeking at Tiella through lowered shades and scrunched up eyebrows. "We're going to be shopping for a week's worth. I will _not_ have anyone come close to me or _my_ Velvet looking like _that_ ever again."

"I'm a little offended that you'd dis my choice of casual clothing despite my best efforts to look decent given what I had."

"It's not the _worst_ I've seen, but it doesn't _excuse_ you looking so _bland_. Points for still somewhat looking cool with it though." Coco replied coolly in a half grin. "We'll also be working on your hairstyle."

"Let's not touch my hair, thanks," Tiella said, entering their first store from behind Coco and Velvet—who'd been wearing the most adorable blushing pout since the deal was made.

"Why not? It doesn't fit the cool image you've been going for since we met." Coco said, already looking through various articles of underwear for Tiella to try on.

"It's... embarrassing," Tiella said, looking through the sportswear section.

"What is?" Coco asked offhandedly, already having picked at least 3 sets for Tiella to try.

"Don't laugh, okay? I'll bust your teeth in if you do." Tiella said, not really meaning the threat.

"You can try, but sure okay," Coco replied curtly, not minding the banter.

Tiella didn't answer immediately as she was still looking through the large selection for comfortable, easy to move in underwear.

"My mom..." She started softly, "My mother would always do my hair in this particular braid when I was young." Tiella said, a few packs of underwear already in a basket. "Aaand... I guess I sort of just kept it that way ever since."

She stood there for a moment, idly playing with her long braids while looking at them.

Coco and Velvet looked at each other for a moment, taking in Tiella's words. "What's this? Chelly can _actually_ be adorable too?" Coco almost yelled in glee, walking over to Tiella to give her a warm side hug.

"You must be very close to your mother if you value it so much." Velvet said with a small smile while walking over to Tiella.

"Yeah," Tiella responded with a nostalgic smile. "We were."

 _"Were?"_ both Coco and Velvet thought while sharing surprised looks. The lighthearted moment they thought they'd been sharing with the tall girl was instantly replaced with a glum tension.

"I see." Velvet said, giving Tiella a small sad smile of her own.

"Don't worry, girl. I'll get you something that'll go well with that hairstyle." Coco said, already having let go of the hug and giving Tiella a reassuring pat on her shoulder. "Mama Coco knows best, after all," she said in a reassuring grin.

"Alright, alright," Tiella said, a half smile on her face while rolling her eyes. "Let's get out of this sap-fest so I can go pay for my underwear." already walking towards the register.

"And _what,_ " Coco said, stopping Tiella from walking any further. "are those?" giving Tiella's articles a critical glare.

"Sports undies?" Tiella said while giving Coco a disbelieving look. "Never heard of them?"

"That's _all_ you're getting?" Coco asked, her turn to sound incredulous. "You won't even get any _special_ ones?"

"I don't have anyone I'm interested in, thank you," Tiella said, dismissing the talk. She then continued walking to the register but was stopped by Coco once more.

"Not _yet,_ you mean." Coco said, peeking from her shades again, giving her _'the look'_.

"Uh, no?"

"You _can't_ be serious."

"I'm about as real as I can get right now."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You're taking these with you," Coco said, forcefully handing over all the sets she picked earlier.

"Wha-? Bu-"

"No buts."

"What do you me-"

"No. _Buts._ " giving Tiella _'the look'_ plus a raised eyebrow as if daring her to argue further.

"Velvet? A little help here!?" Tiella looked to the bunny girl but all she got were dead eyes and a knowing smile.

"You get used to it." Velvet said in a resigned, monotone voice while patting her on the shoulder knowingly.

Resigned to her fate and second questioning her decision to ask Coco for help, Tiella begrudgingly paid for everything at the register.

As soon as Tiella had paid for her sets of underwear, she immediately took one to wear. Seeing Tiella's going for the dressing rooms, Coco instead gave her one of the more risqué pairs. Tiella fought as hard as she could but it was all for naught.

She spent the rest of their day wearing dark red stockings, with lace and garter-belt underneath her clothes.

"You're lucky I actually like how it feels on my skin," Tiella said indignantly, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"I know my stuff, Chelly," Coco said in a cocky half-grin. "I'm your go-to girl for _all_ things fashion."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Don't worry, Tiella. Coco doesn't mean bad." Velvet said from beside Coco. "She's forceful, but that's only because she wants you to look the best you can."

" _Especially_ when you're with me and my Velvet." Coco continued. "Besides, I'm _sure_ you'll be thanking me later."

"Hmph." was all Tiella could say in response.

* * *

A few more stores later and It was already 7:40 pm. They've already eaten dinner and were on their way home to Beacon.

Tiella was wearing a completely different set of clothes while carrying multiple bags with even more clothes among other things.

She wore a red turtle-neck body-fit sweater that had holes to show off the shoulders that reached down to her thighs and a dark brown belt with a gold-colored buckle with a sun motif hanging loosely on her slim waist, more for fashion than utility.

She also wore tight-fitting black leggings that were tucked into mid-calf combat boots a series of buckles at the front and half-inch long stiletto heels.

For accessories—she wore a gold-colored hairpin with a crescent moon and two small stars next to it to show more of the right side of her face while still partially concealing her left eye. She also had two star-motif earrings with a dangling moon on her right ear, and a dangling sun earring connected to an ear cuff by a chain near the top of her left ear. And finally, she had a silver-colored, crescent moon necklace with a gold-colored gem in the middle.

If anything from before had been left as it was, it would only be her fingerless tactical gloves.

"I'd say today was a productive day." Coco started as they made their way to the airships. She was proud of her work, going with an astronomical theme for accessories alluding to the tall girl's name, and simple but stylish clothes to go with her simple hairstyle.

A simple design at its base but made stylish by the accessories.

"Well..." Tiella said, "it's definitely something I wouldn't have thought to wear at all before."

"I think it looks great on you, Tiella." Velvet complimented from beside her, carrying some of Tiella's bags to help. "I knew asking Coco was the right thing to do."

"Actually..." Tiella said, then paused for a moment, giving herself a once-over, raising her arms to see more of her attire. Both girls waited in slight anticipation of what she was about to say, Coco internally feeling nervous. "...like I said it's not something I'd think to wear."

Tiella then lowered her arms and continued, "But I like it. Thanks, Coco."

Coco looked visibly relieved at the comment. Velvet gave Coco her own happy smile in response.

"I guess that means you can borrow Velvs for half a day."

"Coco!?"

"Oh yeah," Tiella said, remembering their earlier deal. "I'll be sure to let you know when I need Velvet for that long," she said to Coco while giving Velvet a wink and a casual smile.

Velvet couldn't make any proper verbal response as she could only stutter her words out. She hid her face under her ears while looking down, careful not to trip.

They got on the airship back to Beacon and as soon as they arrived they immediately went for the dorms.

* * *

 _A few hours earlier..._

"So?" Ruby asked.

Team RWBY was spending the rest of their off in their casual clothes inside their dorm lazying about.

Ruby was laying on her bed in her pajamas reading a weapons magazine, Weiss was sitting on the edge of her bed—also in her pajamas—while reading a fashion magazine. Blake was sitting on her bed—leaning her back on a pillow by the wall—reading another one of her novels. Yang was lying on her back on her own bed while listening to music on her scroll with her headphones on.

"Yeah?" Yang asked, partially removing her headphones.

"What's it like facing Tiella in a match?"

Yang thought for a moment before answering, completely removing her headphones and putting a hand over her chin. "It's kind of like facing Pyrrha in a match, but also a lot different."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked from below.

"She saw through everything I threw at her just like Pyrrha did, you know? But in her case, it was like she was being lazy about it. Like, if she wanted, she would have countered even before I could make the first move. And she was watching everything I did like she was taking in my entire fighting style to memorize it or something."

"You can't just get used to someone's fighting style in 30 seconds during a match, especially in an intense match like that." Weiss chimed in disbelievingly.

"I know! But that's just how I feel about it, okay? And it was really frustrating." Yang said, remembering her growing frustration for every single miss.

"But you won, right?" Ruby said.

"Yeah, by staying down and catching her off guard because she was looking away," Yang said with a little pout on her face.

* * *

 _At the same time..._

"So she really did hit as hard as you said?" Jaune asked.

Team JNPR was also in their own dorm, each doing their own thing.

Jaune was reading a comic book on his bed, Pyrrha was doing her homework on a desk, Nora was on her headphones listening to music while reading a weapons magazine on her own bed, and Ren was meditating on his bed.

"Yes, I likely would have been pushed further back if I hadn't used my Semblance to keep myself in place," Pyrrha said, taking a short break from doing her homework.

"Wow," Jaune said in no small amount of surprise.

"Yeah! It was like getting hit by Yang but way faster!" Nora chimed with her headphones resting on her shoulders.

"But weren't you pushing her back in the beginning? You were both trying to push each other over, right?" Jaune asked.

"That's because her build emphasizes on speed and agility. Unlike Nora or Yang." Pyrrha answered. "And just like you saw earlier, I couldn't get a clean hit in. So I tried throwing and pinning her down instead."

Jaune and Nora were listening intently, and while Ren still hadn't moved, he too was certainly listening.

"It worked for a while, but it didn't last for long. She quickly got used to my attempts of trying to throw her off, so she kept her distance, baiting me into coming for her. And whenever I tried again, she would parry me and go in for a fast and heavy counter."

"That's... amazing." Jaune said, "It's a little hard to believe that someone gave even _you_ a hard time, even though I was there to see it."

"Yes," Pyrrha said with a small smile. "And it was the most excited I've felt in a fight for a very long time. I was on my feet the entire time I was going against her."

"I know!" Nora chimed in again, her hands in the air as if celebrating, "She was so _awesome!_ It's like facing a professional huntress!" she continued, animatedly waving her arms.

"Perhaps she is," Ren said, his eyes still closed in meditation. "Perhaps she's already a fully fledged huntress. She did fight in that spar barehanded. So it is likely that she was holding a _lot_ back."

"Now that you mention it..." Jaune said, going into deep thought.

* * *

Tiella was back in her room, already packing her small amount of things up in the bags she brought home.

 _"Guess I'll be skipping out on my late night workout?"_ she thought while packing up.

 _"Wait, no one really told me where Glynda stays at... and I forgot to buy a scroll!"_

Tiella's eyes went wide at the late realization, wondering what to do and how to contact Glynda.

Suddenly there were a few knocks on the door.

"Tiella, are you in?" a voice came from outside.

"Glynda? Yeah, I'm in. Come on in. I'm just packing up." Tiella said, extremely relieved that Glynda came for her.

The door opened and Glynda let herself in, shutting the door behind her as soon as she was.

"Are you ready?" she asked, standing by the door, arms crossed.

"Almost," she said while going back to her packing.

"Looks like you did a lot of shopping."

"Coco and Velvet were with me."

"Ms. Adel and Ms. Scarlatina? I see."

"Yep.," she said, popping the 'p' sound.

"How was the city?"

"It's nice, doesn't look too different from a lot of the cities I've been to, minus the airships."

"You don't have airships where you're from?" Glynda asked, always curious to learn more of Tiella's world.

"We do, but they're called airplanes and they're more for traveling between countries or just super long distances in general, not city to city." Tiella said, finishing up on her packing, "We take buses or trains for that."

"I see."

"Yyyep. And I'm done," she said, standing up with arms filled with bags.

"Good," Glynda said while adjusting her glasses, already turning on her heel to move out of the room. "I still have a bit of work to do, so I'll have to leave as soon as I show you to your room."

"Thanks," Tiella said while following suit.

 _"Maybe I might I actually get a chance to do my night workout? Gonna have to ask."_

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Short chapter and simple for today. Other than marathoning V6, I was a little busy with stuff at home so I couldn't get into this more than I wanted._

 _And thank you so much to everyone that's been liking Tiella and my story so far!_

 _I can also see Guest darkvampirekisses' point with Glynda's use of glyphs. Though I don't really feel like overanalyzing it any further than that, at least for now._

 _I hope you enjoyed this little chapter too._

 _And reviews please, thank you!_


	10. Chapter 10

_At the Grand Clock Tower, 9:04 pm..._

"Hmm..."

Ozpin was watching footage of Tiella's first match against Cardin and the free for all from Combat class on his scroll by the large window. Specifically, he'd been replaying the short one on one moments of Tiella against Pyrrha and Yang.

He was quite surprised to see that a soldier from another world was able to fight on a level that far surpassed his own students. Even Pyrrha Nikos who he's had his eye on ever since the start of the school year.

 _"Though... despite the clear gap between her and Ms. Nikos, she's wont to take spars casually. So it is a little difficult to measure for sure how well she'll do when she goes serious."_

She showed prowess in fighting that supported her claim of being a mercenary. She had the experience that most—if not all—his students lacked. She knew how to put someone at a disadvantage and keep it that way for the remainder of the fight.

And most importantly, she had an incredible battle sense—picking up on her opponent's quirks in a matter of seconds.

 _"She has a habit of obscuring her opponent's vision by attempting to grab them by the face and then striking elsewhere to maim, disorient further, or finish."_

One can say that she's very much like an actual Huntress already when it came to combat against another person.

 _"Perhaps I can have her work with Qrow on a few missions to get her acquainted. Qrow may not like it at first, but I have a feeling that they'll get along just fine."_

He replayed the footage again starting from her match with Cardin.

 _"James on the other hand... would have reservations working with a mercenary."_

The footage was showing the fight between Pyrrha and Tiella once more and Ozpin was watching just as he did the first time—intently studying both girls' performance.

 _"Even more so for Tiella. I don't doubt she'll have beef with James as soon as they meet."_

Ozpin took a seat by his desk to refill his mug, still watching the footage.

 _"However, if I wish for them to work together, I must tell them everything. It is only right that I do."_

* * *

 _Around the same time..._

"Hey Glynda, do you mind if I work out?" Tiella asked, "It's gonna be a nightly thing if you're fine with it."

"So long as you don't make a lot of noise."

They were both in the living room and Glynda was on her couch wearing a cozy white sweater and dark blue jeans. Her feet were raised onto the couch with her leaning on one of the armrests as she worked on her scroll.

"Great. And you don't have to worry about that, I don't really use a lot of equipment."

"Good," Glynda said, adjusting her glasses to look at Tiella.

She started with light dynamic stretches, careful not to make too much grunting noise.

 _"She sure lives in a nice room. Do all teachers live like this?"_ she thought.

Glynda's apartment was room 201 on the second floor of the East Wing Dormitory and was fairly large for one person.

A hall began by the entrance to her apartment that leads into the living room where there were two couches and a small glass table in the middle. A television set was by the wall where the couches were—and to its left was a small kitchen and dining room. From there going right was the large bathroom—complete with a big tub, a shower, and a separate room for a toilet.

It also had three rooms that could be used as bedrooms—though with Glynda living alone, she used one for storage and the other as a guest room.

The guest room would be Tiella's new permanent residence until further notice.

Past the living room was a glass sliding door hidden behind milky white curtains that lead to a veranda. There, Glynda kept small plants and also where she hung her laundry to dry.

"You have a nice place, Glynda. I could get used to living here." Tiella said, getting down on the floor for her push-ups.

"Thank you. Do try not to mess up the place whenever I'm gone."

"Of course..." she huffed, "...Headmistress." and continued, mentally keeping count of her push-ups. She continued for a few more push-ups until she stopped and sat on the floor.

"Hey, Glynda?"

"Yes?" she said without looking.

"Is my Aura still on?"

Glynda peeked from behind the couch to give Tiella a questioning look. She stared at Tiella for a while, her eyes softly glowing before she spoke again, "Yes, and it's almost fully recovered."

"Can you help me, I dunno, turn it off or something?"

"Why?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I just wanna do my workout without it." she shrugged.

Glynda looked at Tiella for a moment before answering, "Very well. Tonight should be a good enough time for your first Aura lesson."

"Great!" Tiella said, eagerly standing in front of Glynda. "So, how do we do this?"

"There are a few ways, but the most common is to empty your mind. Focus on the feeling of nothingness inside you."

Glynda closed her eyes as she started glowing brighter and brighter for every passing second until the glow suddenly disappeared.

"That's how it should look like," she said, feeling slight exhaustion. "You'll know you've done it when you feel slightly drained and that everything feels a little heavier."

"Let me try it then," Tiella said, taking a seat on a separate couch.

Tiella did as told, and for a long while, she was just sitting there without anything happening. At that point, Glynda was already back on her scroll.

"Yeah, this isn't happening," she said in slight frustration.

"It takes time and effort to learn these things. Just keep at it for an hour," she said, her eyes still on the scroll.

"Alright, alright."

 _"'Empty', she said. 'Feel nothing', she said. How's that any different from how I normally am? Wait, maybe..."_

She closed her eyes once more and tried again.

 _"Empty..."_

She focused on herself.

 _"Empty..."_

On the black nothingness in her mind.

 _"I am empty..."_

 _"Tiella..?"_

 _"..."_

 _"Tiella..!"_

 _"..."_

 _"Tiella... please stop!"_

 _"..."_

 _"Please..!"_

 _"..."_

She focused intently like so for a few minutes. And unknown to her, she'd begun glowing a dark red hue.

Until she was shaken to attention by a deeply distressed and exhausted-looking Glynda.

"W-Wha? Glynda?" Tiella asked confusedly, "What's wrong?"

"Thank... Oum..." Glynda said gasping the words out, "...you finally... stopped."

She eyed Glynda who she hadn't noticed was already on top of her, gripping her tightly by the shoulders and breathing heavily. Tiella stared for a short moment until she realized the signs. Her eyes went wide and took Glynda by the shoulders to sit them both upright.

"Glynda? Did I-!? Glynda, I'm so sorry, I-I didn't mean it! I-"

"It's..." Glynda pressed a finger on her lips, "..it's fine. You stopped."

"..."

"It's all that matters," she said, putting a hand on her chest as she tried to steady her breathing.

"I'm sorry," Tiella said with eyes downcast, ashamed of what she'd done, inadvertently or not.

"Don't apologize. I know that you don't like using your Skill, so I know that you know very little about it."

"I'm s-..."

Glynda glared, daring her to finish.

"Okay."

"We'll work on both your Aura and your Skill. One step at a time."

"My Skill too?" Tiella asked incredulously, looking up at Glynda with a pained expression.

"Tiella, ignoring your Skill won't make it go away," Glynda said in a knowing smile. "I believe that it would be better for you if you learned to control it as well."

Tiella's eyes went downcast again, understanding Glynda's intentions. She knew that Glynda meant well, that she only wanted to make things easier for not only her but for everyone else as well. But...

"No."

"Tiella?"

"I said no." she said indignantly, "I don't need it."

"But Tiella-"

" _I don't need it!_ " she stood abruptly and turned her back on Glynda. "I will _never_ need it again! Not when I have Aura! I just need to master Aura and I'll never have a use for it, _anymore!_ "

"I know that you don't want to-"

"Then you should already know that I will never, _ever_ want to use it again!" Tiella turned, facing Glynda with a glare. "I WOULD RATHER _DIE!_ "

"But I don't _want_ you to die!" Glynda yelled, standing abruptly to face Tiella's glare with her own. "Don't you get that!? Did it ever cross your mind that the people here wouldn't want you to go dying off, just like that!?"

Tiella was caught off guard by her words. She could only stare back at the pained and concerned eyes that were adorning Glynda.

"...I told you didn't I? I am your _ally_ , no matter what." Glynda said softly, giving Tiella a warm smile as she spoke, "And that I won't let you be alone."

Tiella only stayed quiet, looking down, trying not to look at Glynda.

"If it wasn't obvious the first time, then I'll say it again." she cupped Tiella's cheek with one hand and raised her face to look at her, "You don't have to worry about being alone anymore, because I won't let you."

Tiella looked into Glynda's rarely seen gentle eyes. She felt a little warm inside, knowing that she normally would not show this side to anyone.

"And that should go the same way for you as well," Glynda said gently, giving her a small half-smile with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not just gonna let you _leave_ me after you make me promise something like that."

"You're such a pain, you know that?" Tiella said so softly, in a small smile of her own.

"You're the one who's being a pain right now, you know?" Glynda said while gently rubbing Tiella's cheek with her thumb.

"Could you give me some time to think about it at least?" Tiella said softly, looking down on the floor once more.

"Of course," Glynda said, letting go of her cheek. "you can tell me about it when you've made your decision."

"Thanks." Tiella looked up at her once more—her sharp eyes softened.

"Why don't you take the night off from your workout? Surely one night won't hurt?" Glynda said in a small grin, "You already received a beating in Combat class after all."

"Pfft... yeah, that's probably a good idea," Tiella said with a roll of her eyes.

She walked to her room and opened the door. She went inside, and before she shut the door, she spoke.

"Goodnight, Glynda."

"Goodnight, Tiella."

And the door shut quietly, leaving Glynda by the living room—wondering whether she'd need a cup of tea or a glass of beer to cool off.

 _"And she/I just moved in too."_

* * *

When the morning came for Tiella, she felt quite refreshed.

Gone were her anxieties from the night before, though that didn't mean she did not care anymore nor would she forget.

She's simply refreshed her state of mind.

So she got up at her usual time, 6 in the morning, and went on for her daily morning ritual. She met up with Velvet again along the way and told her about how she's now moved in with Glynda.

"So as punishment you're to stay with Professor Goodwitch indefinitely?" Velvet said during their light stretches, preparing for the laps around the campus.

"Yeah, it's a bit of a bummer but all in all, I don't mind." Tiella said while doing jumping jacks, "Glynda's been taking real good care of me since I got here, too so I can't really complain since it was all my fault in the first place."

"Professor Goodwitch has been one of the best teachers I've had all my life as a huntress trainee, so I'm sure you'll be fine under her care too." Velvet said in that cute smile of hers.

"I know," Tiella said while rolling her shoulders alternately. "Are we ready?"

"Ready." Velvet said, actually ready, unlike the first time.

* * *

"Oh, so Coco isn't a morning person like you?" Tiella said, standing beside Velvet by the shower room lockers.

"Yeah, she can be a bit grouchy first thing in the morning." Velvet said, wiping her sweat away with a dry towel. "Something about not functioning properly unless she gets her morning dose of caffeine."

"And what about the guys?" she asked after drinking from a bottle of cold water.

"Fox likes to do his calisthenics inside the room; we don't really mind. Yatsu meditates until everyone's ready for breakfast."

"What about you, Pyrrha? You the only morning person in your team?" Tiella asked.

Pyrrha was sitting by the bench pouring the rest of the cold water over her head after drinking from the bottle.

"Well... Jaune likes to sleep until 7, Ren would wake up at 5 to practice his kata, and Nora prefers to wake up whenever she wants," she said with an amused smile, remembering her team's quirks. "She would sometimes wake us all up at 4 in the morning trying to wake Ren up because she suddenly craved for pancakes."

"Speaking of Ren and Nora, are they an item?" Velvet asked curiously.

"Nora said they've known each other since childhood and have been _'together'_ but not _'together-together'_."

"Almost there then." Tiella chimed.

"Whatever their decisions will be, I wish them both happiness," Pyrrha said in her ever gentle smile.

"Let's hit the showers?" Tiella asked both girls, to which both of them simply nodded.

* * *

Tiella got back to Glynda's— _their_ —apartment and as soon as she opened the door, she was immediately assaulted by the appetizing scent of something cooking.

"Tiella? Are you back from your morning routine?" Glynda asked from inside.

"Yeah, mornin' by the way." Tiella sniffed once, peeking into the kitchen and asked, "What's cooking?"

"Our breakfast," Glynda said matter-of-factly.

It was a bit of a sight for Tiella, seeing Glynda in an apron over what she wore the night before, cooking breakfast for the both of them.

"Even my share?" she asked curiously, holding a finger up to her lower lip.

"Of course." Glynda scoffed as if she was offended by the question.

"Oh, wow. I was just planning to go to the cafeteria again but I could get used to this." Tiella said while heading for her room. "Let me just get changed before I help you out."

"It's fine. I'm almost done anyway." Glynda said with a wave and immediately went back to cooking.

"Alright," Tiella said while entering her room.

 _"I never thought I'd ever eat Glynda's home cooking."_

She thought while changing into the clothes Coco picked for her.

 _"And yet here I am."_

She did her hair into her signature braids and wore her accessories soon after.

 _"Waiting for her to finish cooking right after my morning workout."_

She opened the door and stepped into the living room.

 _"It feels so unreal."_

She walked towards the table in the dining area.

 _"So many things that I never expected to happen to me... just happened to me and today's only just the beginning of my 3rd day here."_

"We're having eggs benedict, bacon, and pancakes," Glynda said while preparing the table. "We also have milk and coffee."

She gave Tiella a small smile, proud of her work before she noticed the look on her face.

"Tiella? What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

 _Celeste! It's morning already. Come on, breakfast is ready. If you don't get up now, you'll be late for school. We wouldn't want you to be left behind by Daddy now, do we?_

"Is... there something you don't like?" Glynda asked, "There're some buttered toast if you're not up for pancakes."

 _Where's my little girl? Daddy's been waiting for you to join him, you know? Even big sis has gone tired of waiting._

Tiella was staring at the table full of food, prepared just for both of them—and was filled with a strong sense of nostalgia.

"Tiella?" Glynda asked, standing just in front of the wistful girl.

Finally realizing that Glynda's been calling for her, Tiella shook her head lightly and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Sorry about that Glynda, I'm just a little surprised that you'd be so great at cooking," she said teasingly.

Glynda gave her a small pout, "At least give it a taste before you start flattering me."

"I'm pretty sure eggs benedict isn't as easy as scrambled eggs," Tiella said in an amused smile, taking her seat by the table.

Glynda took hers just across Tiella, "I have my own tricks." she said in a small grin as her silverware floated above the table.

Tiella chuckled, "Using your Semblance to cook? My, how flashy."

"It's actually a good form of practice for me," Glynda said while grabbing her silverware from the air and preparing to eat.

"Yeah?" Tiella asked, taking one of each that was prepared into her own plate.

"Yes." Glynda said after swallowing a bite, "Using my Telekinesis on daily things such as cooking and cleaning helps me refine my control over it."

"Oh, I get ya." Tiella said, "Mmm, these are great." already done with her own pancake and moving on to her bacon and eggs benedict. "So, what do I have for today's schedule? Same as yesterday?"

"Thank you." she said, "And yes, you'll be following the same schedule for today."

Tiella mixed coffee with milk and downed half the cup before answering, "Great, great. Does Port always teach like that?"

"Yes, he imparts his knowledge on Grimm his own way. I admit that it can be tedious just listening to his stories, and may even be a little exaggerated, but he definitely knows what he's talking about."

"Uh huh... And Oobleck? Are you sure he's not a robot?"

"Don't be preposterous."

"I'm just sayin', you know? How anyone can talk that fast and that much without needing to breathe is beyond me unless it's a robot."

"He's just a little hyper from all the caffeine."

"Alright, fine. Keep your secrets."

"..."

"So what about Peach? Is she a child genius or did she just never have a growth spurt?"

"She's... a little of both. She used to be our youngest staff, at age 24, until you came."

" _'A little...'_ she says... pfft, yeah, okay."

"..."

 _"I can definitely get used to this."_

Glynda was rolling her eyes after hearing another one of Tiella's dumb jokes while cleaning up the table.

 _"But do I deserve it?"_

"Let me help you out," Tiella said, standing from her seat, stacking her own plates and silverware.

 _"A happy life like this, after everything I've done?"_

"It's fine, I have Telekinesis, remember?" Glynda said in a small smile.

 _"Of course not."_

"Yeah but, that just makes me look like a freeloader."

 _"Don't delude yourself, girl."_

"You already are," Glynda said in her own cheeky smile.

"Wha-!? I've been pretty worried about that, you know!? And you just come out and say it to my face!? Fine! If that's how it's gonna be, then I'm doing all the chores before you could even _think_ to do them!"

 _"The only thing you deserve is to die alone on the side of the road."_

"Is that so?" Glynda said, eyebrow raised questioningly.

"It _is_ so. I'll show you who the freeloader really is..."

 _"Gunned down like a stray dog."_

* * *

The start of her day was much like yesterday. She was made to observe as there wasn't really much for her to do during class, save for fetching things as well as keeping an eye on students that weren't paying attention.

Cardin and his gang were a little more docile compared to before, and while not really paying attention during classes, they've stopped picking on Jaune and Velvet. He's still abrasive as ever though.

But Tiella's fine with that. Now that Cardin's stopped acting like a jackass, he sort of reminded her of Bardel. Just that Cardin's a little bigger, probably a bit smarter, and a lot less hot-headed and impulsive. What a man child.

Port had invited her to a Grimm hunt by the weekend as soon as class ended, which she graciously accepted. She was eager to see the Grimm up close and personal before they disappear like before.

Dr. Oobleck also invited her to be his assistant in a short, one-day expedition to the Emerald Forest. He needed someone to carry his tools with him and figured he could focus more on the archaeological part of his expedition than the trying not to get eaten by Grimm part with her help.

 _"Wait just a second, my weekend's already fully booked just to assist these geezers? Don't I get a day off? Whatever, I wanted to see more of this world anyway."_

"Hey, Tiella!"

Tiella just finished History Class and was heading out to the cafeteria for lunch when she was called out to from behind. She turned to look for the voice but couldn't find the person immediately.

"Down here!"

"Ah, Ruby, was it?" Tiella said after looking a little lower, remembering the name of the girl.

"Yep!"

"What's up, Little Red?" Tiella asked, resuming her walk to the cafeteria.

"Oh, nothing much really," Ruby said, following suit. "I've just been wondering... how come you don't like using your weapon during spars?"

"Who even takes spars seriously?" Tiella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just that everyone wants to get better with their own fighting style here so I was just wondering if you're actually just more comfortable barehanded?"

"No, not really." Tiella dismissed casually with a wave of her hand, "I feel more comfortable with at least a knife in my hand."

"Your weapon is a knife?" Ruby asked in barely hidden curiosity.

"It's one of them, yeah." she said, giving Ruby a wry smile, "And I just figured I shouldn't be showing everything off. Trump cards only work because your enemies don't know about them."

"That makes sense." Ruby nodded in agreement.

"Yyyep."

"So can you show me your weapons?" Ruby asked, almost bouncing in place.

"Uh... why?"

"Sorry!" Ruby said after realizing that she was weirding her out, "I'm just super curious about all sorts of weapons and stu-"

"Ruby's a weapons maniac so she'll take any chance she gets to look at your weapons."

Interrupted by a familiar voice, they both turned to see Weiss walking up towards them on the way to the cafeteria.

"She did the same with all of us." she continued.

"Is that right?" Tiella said, wearing a wry smile again.

All Ruby could do was rub the back of her head shyly and laugh in response.

"I guess that's fine." she said, "I need some target practice anyway."

"You use guns too?" Ruby asked, already looking like the most excitable puppy.

"Yeah but," Tiella said, entering the door to the cafeteria, "they're nothing amazing like the ones I see you guys using. They're simple as can be."

"Well..." Ruby drawled, unsure of how to react.

"But alright," Tiella said, patting Ruby on the head, "I'll show them to you after classes end."

"Awesome!" she beamed, clinging to the tall girl by the shoulders. "Oh, I can't wait!"

"Easy there, girly." Tiella said, raising the arm Ruby was hugging, "I'm telling you now, they're really nothing fancy."

"It's okay." Ruby said in a grin, "I can help you make upgrades if you like!"

"You're that much of a geek, huh?" Tiella said, lining up to order from Mama.

"Oh, it's just that in my old school every student has to forge their own weapon, so..."

"Yeah? Sounds pretty neat. I'll hold you to it then."

Ruby jumped off and grabbed her own tray. "I won't let you down!"

They all made their orders and went for the table where Blake and Yang were already sitting. Team JNPR were elsewhere as they had other business to attend to. Namely, trying to find a proper training regime for Jaune.

And while Tiella was gladly joining in on Team RWBY's banter, her mind was elsewhere.

 _"What are you smiling at?"_

Yang dared her to eat a whole Sloppy Tiella in under 30 seconds, betting 10 Lien that she wouldn't get to half of it even if she tried. So as someone who's always happy for a challenge—she endeavored to prove Yang wrong.

 _"Acting as if you belong there."_

Yang's mouth hung agape at how easily—and messily—Tiella proved her wrong. Ruby was cheering and praising, Blake's eyebrows shot up all the while, and Weiss was disgusted beyond words.

 _"Keep in mind,"_

Tiella, in all her sloppy and messy glory—proudly beamed at Yang her smuggest smile—extending an open palm out and waited for her 10 Lien.

 _"you're only there because you have nowhere to go."_

Yang begrudgingly gave up 10 Lien while muttering something about eating loads being Tiella's hidden Semblance.

 _"You'll be thrown away as soon as Ozpin's done with you."_

Tiella then licked her lips and fingers clean in front of the girls, to which they had varying reactions.

 _"So don't get too complacent,"_

Yang gave her a wink, Blake was trying to ignore her by going back to her book but kept failing as she kept on stealing glances. Ruby just went back to eating like normal and Weiss had a faint blush and was pretending she didn't know the disgusting woman.

 _"alright?"_

* * *

The Dust Theories class was much like before—lots of moving equipment around, erasing things on the high part of the board, standing by in case Peach or a student caused an explosion—the works.

After class, she asked Professor Peach for a good beginner's book on Dust. Her excuse was that it was good to brush up on the basics again before she started asking Peach on ways to put Dust on her own weapons and armor.

She got a tip to visit the library after classes ended and to just ask the librarian. Apparently, there were a _large_ number of beginners books, oddly enough.

Then came the Combat class.

Tiella stood by Glynda's side as she officiated the random selection matches. She was eagerly waiting for a chance to get picked again though it never came. When the time for volunteer matches came, however, she was challenged to a one on one match by Pyrrha. And it seemed like Yang wanted to get to it first.

As they both entered the arena in their sparring gear—Pyrrha fully armed while Tiella staying otherwise—the class stayed silent, both in anticipation and etiquette, mindful not to distract the combatants.

Tiella walked towards Pyrrha with an extended fist, stopping by the middle. Remembering that Tiella attempted the same thing with Cardin yesterday, Pyrrha met her in the middle of the arena with an extended fist as well, however, she knew not what to do next.

Tiella smiled contentedly, happy that Pyrrha was willing to play along, she lightly bumped her fist with hers and stepped back to her original spot.

Pyrrha blinked in confusion for a short moment but smiled and nodded nonetheless—understanding the act as a form of greeting or respect for Tiella—she stepped back to her spot as well.

Glynda stood just outside the arena, and with a clear voice, "Begin!"

 _"Now then..."_

Tiella entered her fighting stance—relaxed arms raised to guard, left foot forward, and right foot backward.

 _"She'll probably never throw her weapon at me again if she can help it."_

Pyrrha entered hers with a raised Akoúo with Miló pointed at Tiella in its sword form, raised at shoulder level.

 _"Which means she'll also stay on guard, never letting me disarm her so easily."_

They both circled one another, wary of each other's movements.

 _"So the only thing to do would be to stop pulling my punches."_

Tiella rushed in, forcing Pyrrha to raise her defenses in anticipation.

 _"And stay on the aggressive."_

Pyrrha lowered her stance and shifted Miló to its spear form to thrust at Tiella's head, keeping her at a distance.

Tiella saw the thrust coming, so she tilted her head to the side and grabbed the spear by its extended shaft and pulled towards her.

Pyrrha fought back, pulling on her spear as well but decided at the last second to charge in with a shield bash.

Tiella turned on her heel while still holding on to the spear and lowered herself to the ground, both to send a sweep kick to trip her over and to further try disarming.

Pyrrha saw the sweep kick coming, so she raised her left leg and tried to intercept by stepping on Tiella's calf.

Seeing the attempt to step on her, Tiella quickly pulled her leg back in and rolled away, letting go of Pyrrha's spear. And as soon as her feet touched the ground, she got back up and rushed forward.

Pyrrha shifted her spear to its sword form and did a downward slash coming from her top right. Tiella used her backhand to parry the slash, then sent a strong high kick aiming for Pyrrha's head.

Pyrrha raised her shield to block the blow but was confused as it never came. She looked back at Tiella and saw that the high kick was pulled in as a feint at the last second, switching to her left leg instead for a kick that aimed for her extended right arm.

Tiella held on to the sword's blade tightly and kicked as hard as she could, aiming for the underside of Pyrrha's right forearm.

Not expecting the move at all, Pyrrha braced herself and waited for the kick to collide with her arm. When the kick came, she instantly locked Tiella's leg in using her arm and used the edge of her shield to bash Tiella by the head.

Tiella let go of the sword and jumped with her remaining free leg to aim for Pyrrha's midsection. She made a direct hit, sending Pyrrha backward, but not before getting hit by the edge of Pyrrha's shield on the chest, making her fall to the ground hard.

She got back up in a kip up fast enough to see Pyrrha rushing for her. And from there they exchanged a series of blows—both staying in each other's range—never letting up as soon as one of them got the advantage.

Pyrrha lost her weapons any number of times during the exchange but was quick to make opportunities to retrieve them.

Tiella went in hard, never really stopping in her attempts to disarm Pyrrha, while at the same time landing as many good blows as she could whenever the opportunity presented itself.

They continued the exchange until Tiella had gone low from continuously blocking Pyrrha's attacks with her Aura, leading to her loss.

"And that's the match," Glynda said as soon as the lights in the class returned. "The winner of the match is Pyrrha Nikos."

The screens showed Tiella with 23% Aura while Pyrrha still had a good 32% to hers.

Tiella walked over to Pyrrha and extended an open palm, "I guess I shouldn't be taking so many hits even if I can take them, huh?" she said in a casual smile.

"You were fighting so well that it was hard for me to find another way to lower your Aura," Pyrrha said, taking the offered hand for a good, firm shake.

"Hahaha!" she laughed, "It was a good match, little sis. You really had me going the entire time."

"L-Little sis?" Pyrrha asked in slightly wide-eyed confusion.

Tiella gave her a cheeky grin and held the end of both twin tails up to her face.

Understanding what Tiella meant, she herself responded in a small amused smile.

"One day, I will definitely make you use your weapons against me," Pyrrha said with eyes filled with determination.

"Oooooh, no." Tiella pursed her lips and shook her head lightly, "You wouldn't want that." she leaned close and whispered by Pyrrha's ear, "I only take them out when I kill."

"And I don't wanna kill you, Pyrrha." she said in a soft, cold voice, "For both our sakes, I hope you don't give me a reason to."

Pyrrha felt a slight shiver run down her spine when she heard the small change in tone from the taller girl. A moment later and she saw Tiella back away with a casual smile on her face once more, leaving her wondering whether what she heard was actually from the same girl.

"I was definitely giving it my all though!" Tiella said, patting the still slightly confused Pyrrha on the shoulder, "Beating you is gonna be good training for me."

They both went back into the locker rooms to freshen up and waited back in their seats.

The class ended after seven more matches, all with Tiella simply watching in the sidelines.

* * *

Tiella wandered the school for a while, going from place to place with no particular direction in mind. Eventually, she stumbled upon a staircase circling high up. She followed the staircase and after a couple of minutes reached a door at the top. She opened the door and found herself on one of the higher rooftops at the academy.

She walked to the edge and sat with her legs hanging off the building. She sat there for a while—just admiring the view of the academy below, the city from beyond the lake, as well as the late afternoon sun.

 _"Wish I had smokes with me."_

"Ruby's still waiting for you, you know?" a voice from behind her came along with footsteps that got closer and closer to her.

"Blake," Tiella said, not bothering to turn and face the girl.

"Hn." Blake said, "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

"It's a free country."

Blake simply sat beside her, not saying another word, with a bit of space in between.

"Sorry about keeping Ruby waiting, I needed a bit of time to think."

"Do you have her contacts in your scroll?"

"Nah, I lost mine a couple weeks before I got here."

"Then I'll tell her that you're a little preoccupied at the moment."

"Thanks."

Blake fetched her scroll and typed in a few words to send to Ruby. A short moment later, she received a reply.

"[That's okay, Blake. Tell Tiella she can always show me some other day. Come back to the dorm as soon as you can.] is what she said."

"She's a good girl."

"She is, so I don't appreciate you standing my leader up."

"I'll apologize to her when I see her."

"Bring cookies and strawberries."

"I'll do that."

"And milk."

"Sure."

They were silent for a moment, back to observing the view in front of them, letting the strong breeze blow through their hair.

"So were you looking for me or was this just a coincidence?"

"A bit of both. I come here from time to time to take a short break from everyone."

"Something on your mind, too?"

"Yes, I was wondering why you didn't show up."

"Hahaha, you're really looking out for your leader, huh."

"She's a good girl, just like you said. She looks out for everyone, not just her team."

They were silent for a long while once more, the setting Sun their only light on the high rooftop.

"Looking out for someone, huh?"

Blake said nothing. She only glanced to her side, noting the wistful expression over the enigmatic tall girl.

She still didn't quite agree with the girl and her mindset, but her opinion of her is still up in the air—unsure of whether to hold the girl in a good or bad light.

Tiella stood and put a hand over Blake's head and ruffled it a bit.

"Thanks, Blake. I needed that."

Blake got worried for a bit, holding on to her head and her bow to see if she got found out—but she only saw the figure of Tiella walking away,

"I'll see you around." waving at her before disappearing.

* * *

 _"I don't belong here... and I don't deserve to be here."_

Tiella thought, walking back to the cafeteria for a big helping of cookies, strawberries, and milk.

 _"But that doesn't mean I should make a mess for everyone just because I feel a little guilty about being here."_

She had a tray full of everything she needed from Mama, so she left for RWBY's dorm as soon as she could.

 _"Especially for Glynda."_

She knocked on their door after asking around for their room from random students and waited.

 _"So for now, I'll start with an apology for Little Red."_

"Yes?" came the answer of Ruby as she opened the door. "Tiella! I thought you had something else to do?" she asked with a cute tilt of her head.

"Taken care of. I'm here to apologize for standing you up," she said while raising a tray full of goodies Blake told her to get for Ruby.

"Oh, you didn't have to! But I can't really say no to free cookies, strawberries, and milk." Ruby beamed at her, graciously accepting the tray full of her favorites. "Why don't you come in and join us?"

"That's alright, wouldn't wanna suddenly interrupt whatever you were doing."

"Oh, it's _fiiiine_." Ruby said with a wave of her hand, "We don't mind! Right, guys?"

Ruby looked back, slightly opening the door some more, revealing all members inside.

"Yep."

"I don't mind."

"As long as you don't make a lot of noise."

"See?" Ruby beamed at Tiella after getting approval from all her teammates.

"Then if you'll excuse me," Tiella said, letting herself in. "You're a good girl, Little Red."

They sat by the middle of the floor as the desk was occupied by Weiss doing her homework. Yang was on her bed peeking down on them and Blake was by the edge of her bed, holding onto one of her books.

"I- Uh-... Thanks?" she said in confusion, not really knowing where that came from. "And, uh, you could just call me Ruby. Little Red was how that Torchwick guy called me when I was foiling his robbery."

"Is that right?" Tiella said with a raised eyebrow, "How abooout..."

Ruby tilted her head, waiting for Tiella to continue as she went chomping down on the cookies.

"Little Rose?"

When the name came out, Yang and Ruby paused with raised eyebrows and shared a look, then back at Tiella.

"What? Is it a bad name?" Tiella asked worriedly.

"No!" Ruby immediately tried diffusing her worries, "It's just that..." she said, a wistful smile on her face, "...it's how I remember Mom used to call me."

"Is that so?" Tiella said in her own wistful smile, understanding completely what Ruby meant. "Well, it's only if you let me call you that anyway."

"It's okay, I like the name a lot."

"That's good. Little Rose, it is, then."

They both shared a chuckle before going back to eat with Tiella holding back a lot so as to try not to eat everything like she usually did with all her food. Yang watched them both with a gentle smile on her face, reminded of the mother she grew up with. Seeing the look, Ruby gave her a reassuring smile as well as an offer to join them below. Yang gladly obliged.

Yang took a cookie and spoke, "You know, now that I think about it... you sort of remind me of Mom."

Blake and Weiss noted the nostalgic looks and wistful tone from Ruby and Yang as they spoke.

Tiella choked on a cookie after hearing the words and started coughing heavily. She gave herself light pats on the chest and asked for a glass of milk to help down the food.

"I don't look _that_ old, do I?" she asked worriedly, rubbing her chest to ease the pain of choking.

"No, I mean," Yang started, trying not to laugh too hard, "the way you act and talk. Though, mom was a lot less..."

"A lot less rude and crass?" Tiella finished for her with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile.

"I was gonna say a lot less of a potty mouth, but yeah."

The trio shared another chuckle between them before Ruby invited Weiss and Blake to join in. Blake easily obliged and Weiss faked being bothered while picking a seat between Ruby and Tiella. They all ate merrily, sharing jokes and groaning at each and everyone before eventually laughing at them.

 _"I still don't feel like I belong here... nor do I deserve these moments..._

 _the guilt is just a tad heavy to let me believe otherwise,_

 _but maybe..._

 _I can try?_

 _I can try by looking out for these kids._

 _It's probably what Gramps would have wanted."_

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I'm sorry I took a while before uploading. I had a little bit of trouble trying to get into Tiella's state of mind._

 _I managed to get there after a bit, I just felt that I got a little too into it that I actually didn't feel like writing her guilt-ridden conscience for at least a day._

 _So thanks for the tissues! It really helped with the sweaty eyes._

 _And thanks for the tip with the whole arms akimbo thing. I always pictured it as hands on the side/hips but I guess to make it a lot less confusing, I'll just describe it like so from now on._

 _As for a Remnant style weapon... well, it might be a little sooner? Maybe?_

 _Honestly, I'm not sure, though I do have an idea of what it could be already. Hahaha!_

 _Anyway! Thank you very much for reading another chapter of Lost Star._

 _Reviews, please!_

 _P.S. Yes, I agree. We all need a Coco. Even if I prefer a Velvet or a Glynda._


	11. Chapter 11

_The night before..._

"I need you to come with me. We'll be there to supervise the students as well as keep them alive in case things go awry. The Forever Fall forest is densely packed with Grimm. And having you around would make it easier for me to guard them and will serve to get you well acquainted with Grimm."

"So it's basically just bodyguard work? Should be easy enough."

"Don't let your guard down. I know you specialize against people, so keep this in mind, **be careful**."

"Always am."

"Oh and before I forget, here is your scroll. Every staff's contacts are saved in there already."

"Finally!"

"So get started on learning how to use it as soon as you can, the box contains a manual."

"Gotcha."

* * *

 _The present day, 1:15 pm..._

Tiella was in one of the airships going for The Forever Fall forest. She sat by one of the chairs checking on her weapons, double checking to make sure nothing was amiss.

 _"Full mags? Check."_

She eyed each and every single one of her magazines, taking them out and checking them carefully.

 _"Right bullets, and I still have a few extra mags. Good thing I didn't play along with the kids and their trigger-happy sparring sessions. I doubt they sell these babies here."_

She took one bullet out of one magazine and carefully scrutinized it, not noticing the looks of interest and curiosity going her way from the other students aboard.

 _"Well, they probably do but with Dust... though I still don't wanna waste them. Shit's expensive after all."_

She put the bullet back in its mag and the mag into its gun. She took one of her knives and eyed each one carefully, checking for dullness or any sort of possible loosening by the handle.

 _"Still good, just needs a tiny bit of polishing but I should be fine if the Grimm don't even bleed."_

After checking on everything and making sure that she's all good and combat ready, she placed everything back in their rightful holsters and sheathes.

She wore her full combat gear over her red sweater, though instead of the leggings that Coco got her, she wore her military pants and forewent the stylish belt for her utility belt. She left her earrings back at home but still kept the moon necklace.

 _"I still have 5 grenades, too. Looks like I'm all good."_

She stretched her arms and back out, making a few popping sounds with her fingers and back, then relaxed into her chair. That was when she noticed that Ruby was already in front of her, watching her with childlike curiosity ever since she started.

"Your weapons look so _niiiice!_ " Ruby said in that oh so excited pose of hers. "They're simple designs but the destructive power on your 2 pistols is really high, but then you also have another 2 pistols with really high penetrating power _andohIjustcan'twaittoseeyouinactionwiththemhowdoyouusetheminconjunctionwithyourknives!?_ "

Tiella could only stare blankly at Ruby during her speech, slowly believing Glynda when she said that Oobleck really wasn't a robot like she believed.

"Easy there baby sister. You're freaking Star out." Yang chimed in, grabbing Ruby by the collar of her cloak and pulling her up.

"Please, you make me sound like a celebrity." Tiella groaned.

"Well too bad, it's your nickname now," she said in a cheeky grin.

"Thanks a lot, you freakin' minefield."

"That's a compliment and you know it."

"It wasn't supposed to be, but okay."

"What about Stella?"

"Now that just makes me sound like a stripper at a nightclub."

"So how about-"

"You know what? Star's fine."

"I knew you liked the name." Yang did a little fist pump and grinned at the scowling Tiella.

"Has she always been this annoying?" Tiella asked the rest of Team RWBY.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Only when we're with you guys, to be honest," Ruby said softly, however it was still audible to everyone nearby. "She usually coddles me when we're alone..."

"Ruby!" Yang said, covering Ruby's mouth. She chuckled dryly—face faintly blushing with an embarrassed smile.

They all laughed at Yang's uncharacteristic shyness.

After a few more minutes of banter, they finally reached their landing point in the forest. Glynda and Tiella jumped down first to secure the perimeter. Once confirmed that the area was clear, the students jumped down in pairs.

When everyone has gone down, the airship flew off to a safe zone where they waited for the remainder of the excursion.

Glynda led the students to a nearby clearing with Tiella guarding their tail.

"Wow, it's so beautiful!" Ruby said in awe of the breathtaking wonder of the forest.

A perpetually red forest, colored by the endless rain of the autumn leaves. It's certainly a great mystery to everyone how the forest hasn't died when it's constantly dropping leaves by the second.

 _"Holy crap, I'm not really one for the whole Wonders of the World thing but even this is impressive to me."_ Tiella thought, constantly observing their surroundings for any possible threats.

While leading the way, Glynda explained to the students once more what their excursion was about.

"Yes, students. The Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest. And we're here to make sure that none of you die while doing so."

She stopped at the clearing and waited for everybody to catch up and stand to attention.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap," she said while holding an empty jar to show the students. "However, the forest is full of creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates."

Glynda glanced at everyone, giving each other a stern look. "We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock, have fun!"

Most of the students dispersed together with their teams and split with their partners to cover more ground.

One particular group rejoined as soon as they could and hid behind trees to observe a certain tall redhead.

"That's the bitch."

"Tall fucking know-it-all that thinks she owns the place."

"She's the reason Cardin's turned into a fucking pussy."

"Bitch needs to learn her place."

The boy with the slick black hair took out a few jars filled with sap and continued speaking. "Port said that some Ursi like to snack on these every once in a while. So why don't we see if they like it more if it's served on a bitch?"

He gave one jar each to his buddies, "Throw it on my signal." he said, stretching his arm for a windup.

The other two simply nodded, though they didn't share the same looks. The boy with the Mohawk was eager to throw, apparent due to his wide grin. His throwing arm already aiming for the girl who's been patrolling the area.

The boy with the brown hair, on the other hand, wore an anxious look on his face. He hesitated for a moment but readied his slightly shaky arms to aim for the girl as well.

The slick-haired boy looked at each of his friends and gave them a smirk. He nodded his head and aimed at the girl once more, then he threw.

The other boys saw the action, which caused them to throw theirs as well.

The next thing they knew was there were two loud gunshots quickly followed by shattered glass, and that the girl was already walking towards them with one jar in hand.

They quickly tried scampering away in fear of their identities being found out but they were stopped by another shot that was just centimeters off the slick-haired boy's head.

"Let's not try to get out of the fun just yet."

When the girl was near enough, the boys saw the casual smile of the girl and the slits that were her eyes. She squatted down in front of the terrified boys who were on their asses on the ground.

"Oh man, kids these days! When I was your age I was outside! Murdering people in the fresh air!" she chuckled to herself, happy at the tasteless joke she made. "Just like you guys tried. Except, I actually succeeded whenever I did it."

The trio's eyes were wide at her blunt words, wondering whether she was indeed joking or not.

"H-How di-"

"I'm a professional, sweetie. Your actions were so suspicious since landing that it was so obvious and would have been no different if you just announced to everyone that you were up to _no fucking good_ like I thought you'd be."

The tone of her voice was oddly sweet and alluring like she was trying to speak children who got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Now then," she said, placing the jar in front of the boys. "Two things." holding two fingers up.

"One, I will forget that you just attempted murder on a staff member of _Beacon Academy_ itself, though I wouldn't doubt that Ozpin would find out sooner or later even without my help." she put her index finger down and kindly faced the back of her hand toward the boy who she believed was the perpetrator. "So, good luck to you guys when that happens."

The boys swallowed thickly, extremely anxious after hearing what they believed was her threat at such a casual tone. It was then they realized that they were in the presence of a psychopath.

She leaned in close, her expression then was not the usual casual face she wore. Her eyes were dead and dull—as if she was looking at trash—and her face was nearly a scowl. Her voice was cold and unamused. The monotony of it sent great shivers down their spine as if she was used to making and _following up_ on the words that followed.

"Two, the next time you step even a _tiny_ bit out of line from being the _good students_ I expect you to be?" Her voice was low and soft, barely audible to anyone just a few feet away from them.

"I will make sure you _wish_ you were behind bars— _ **tucked safely away from me—**_ instead."

She stood up, her casual smile returning, then aimed her gun at the boy with the Mohawk.

"Am I clear? It's not a threat, okay? It's a promise, you hear me?"

The boys saw her finger slowly squeezing the trigger. The brown haired boy shut his eyes and turned his face away, the slick-haired boy tried to push her hand away, and the boy with the Mohawk cried weakly while still on his ass on the ground.

The gunshot was heard loud and clear, and after a few seconds, the brown-haired boy opened his eyes to look at his dead teammate—or so he believed.

They were confused. The Mohawk boy was still alive and nearly pissing himself crying where he laid. They looked at her gun and found that it was pointed elsewhere.

They followed where it was aimed.

There was a Beowolf just a couple meters behind them, disintegrating where it laid dead.

"Run to Professor Goodwitch, I'll handle this," she said coolly, already aiming for her the second Beowolf that was now running at them like mad.

The boys didn't need any convincing. They were happy to leave the presence of the crazy bitch as soon as they could.

* * *

 _"I guess the pussies getting scared attracted them? Whatever, more for me."_

She saw a large number of glowing red eyes pinned at her. They came in droves, all wanting nothing more than to behead and eat her where she stood. It was a fairly large pack, with more than a dozen Beowolves that just kept on coming and coming.

 _"Sure are a lot of em. A couple years ago, I probably would've shit my pants running from these things. Now I just don't even fucking care anymore. Weird how time does that to you."_

She dispatched every single one that tried to come near. At first, she stayed where she stood, shooting down one Beowolf after the other with ease. She tested how their alabaster armor worked against her high penetration bullets and was quite surprised by the thickness of them.

The FN Five-Seven that she used boasts a fairly high penetrating power with each of its rounds. It has a fairly mild recoil as well which made it so easy to shoot with consecutively, too. So when she aimed specifically for the thick part of the Beowolf's armor, she was surprised to note that it barely made a dent or even left a scratch.

Their skin, on the other hand, was a different story.

 _"It takes 3 shots on the same unarmored spot to kill them. God, what a waste of bullets."_

She picked up the jar of sap from before and retreated, shooting every once in a while.

 _"They're a little easier to kill than I expected but damn it these bullets aren't exactly cheap, gotta use em wisely."_

She then remembered that the first Beowolf she killed died in one shot. So she tried recalling where exactly she took aim.

 _"Let's see..."_

She slowed down to a jog, jar still in hand, and aimed for the eye of the nearest charging Beowolf while sticking her tongue out in concentration. After a second of careful aiming, she pulled the trigger and made a direct hit. The Beowolf died instantly, vanishing into thin air where it once was.

 _"Bullseye."_ she grinned.

She tossed the jar into the air and took out a mag to reload, never stopping, and steadily aimed for another while catching the jar with her then free hand.

 _"Or is it a Wolfseye in this case? Wait, fuck- Lilly, honestly. Just. Please. Fuckin'- stop invading my sense of humor, fuck's sake. You're making me miss you less and less."_

Cursing her old teammate in her mind, she offhandedly shot three more Beowolves coming from her from different sides. She ran from tree to tree, calmly taking in the number of pursuers she had left. At some point, she realized that there was the sound of trees being toppled and loud roars echoing from the distance.

 _"Sounds big."_

She ran into another clearing where a little under a dozen Beowolves were waiting for her, as well as a bigger, hornier— _heh_ —Beowolf who she believed was the Alpha.

 _"Is that the big bad boy coming after me? No, the sound was coming from behind."_

She didn't want to get any more cornered than she already was so she began shooting the smaller ones first dead in their eyes. The Beowolves rushed in, mindlessly charging as their Alpha growled them to action.

One Beowolf crept up from behind her and did a swipe, to which she easily ducked under, threw the jar in her hand in the air and grabbed its jaw to bring it closer to her so she could finish it off point blank on its eye.

She did the same with another one that lunged at her, sidestepping with minimal movement and shooting down its eye mid-lunge. A third 'wolf came from above. She met the 'wolf with a gun in its mouth easily and switched to the rest of the pack that kept swarming her since the first one that came from behind.

She caught the jar again and held it close to her. She then hopped from place to place, never stopping from shooting multiple Beowolves dead in their eyes before landing—only to repeat it again and again.

From far behind the trees hid a small group of people, all watching the scene in mild astonishment.

"She's so badass," Yang said in an excited whisper. "just dodging everything without doing a lot of movement."

"Yeah, she doesn't like to dash around like we do, huh?" Ruby chimed, giving her own two cents.

"It's probably to conserve energy." Blake guessed.

"As well as to keep an eye on everything easily, I suppose." Weiss speculated.

"She's juggling the jar with her feet now!" Nora excitedly noted.

"That's probably so she could shoot with both hands." Ren guessed.

"It's also probable that she knows we're watching so she's giving us a show." Pyrrha guessed with a wry smile on her face.

"I guess she could have just easily put it down somewhere and just came back for it after," Jaune said.

"Sheesh, what a showoff," Yang commented sarcastically.

 _"You're one to talk."_ was nearly everyone's collective thought.

"Oh, now there's only the Alpha!" Nora almost shouted.

The Alpha angrily charged at Tiella who put more fuel into the fire by taunting it with a lazy smile on her face and a beckoning wave of her hand.

"Come here, boy! Come get it! Come on!"

Tiella slightly bent forward, further taunting the charging Alpha by beckoning it to her like it was some sort of puppy.

"Who's a good boy? _WHO'ZAGOO'BOY!?_ "

The Alpha lunged, aiming to swipe at her with its large claws as well as maul her to death with its giant fangs. She waited for it to get closer—switching to her more destructive pistols, namely the Desert Eagle .50AE—before she jumped and landed on the Alpha's neck, straddling it with her legs tightly.

"You are!"

Shoot.

"You are!"

Shoot, shoot.

" _You. Fucking. Are!_ "

Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.

Loud explosions could be heard even for the students hiding behind trees, coming from the hand cannons she brought out to shoot the Alpha's head with.

"Here's your treat, for being _SUCH_ a _good boy!_ "

She grabbed one grenade from her belt, unpinned it quickly, and shoved it deep inside the Alpha's throat before she stood on its neck and kicked off to jump far back. It thrashed hard during Tiella's straddling and shooting, both its eyes were heavily damaged and its snout missing a few of its fangs. When she got off, she kicked it down to the ground hard, nearly skidding to a nearby tree.

The sound of falling trees finally got close to where they were as it became visible in the nearby darkness of the forest. An Ursa Major, as she recalled, came charging in for her—toppling down trees as if they were nothing but flimsy sticks that were stuck on the ground.

Tiella turned her back on the Alpha, closed her eyes, and blocked her ears with her palms. Not a second later, the grenade exploded inside the Alpha's mouth, effectively blowing its head off and killing it—sending it back where it came from as it vanished.

She felt a wall of force reverberate inside her which she took as her cue to search for the incoming Major's exact location.

 _"Looks like this one's gonna be a little different from the big bad wolf."_

The Ursa Major finally revealed itself to her in all its big, furry, horny— _heh_ —glory with a mighty roar, standing on its stubby legs that were nearly the size of tree trunks.

 _"This should be fun."_ she thought in her wide-eyed, battle-mad grin, her own fangs flashing at her new prey.

She reloaded her pistols as it roared and steadily aimed one at its eye. Not a second later, she pulled the trigger and made a direct hit. The Major backed a step from the impact of the blow on its eye, to which it blocked with its bone-white armor by a tilt of its head.

 _"Huh, either that thing got lucky or I suck at aiming."_ she thought, raising her eyebrow in confusion.

She aimed for its eyes again as it charged at her, anger renewed for stunning it with the first shot. She made two direct hits again, slowing the charge ever so slightly—hitting the bone armor just near its eyes again.

 _"Yeah, I still suck at aiming. What a waste... these bullets aren't exactly cheap."_ She holstered both pistols while sighing, then took out one of her knives. _"I still don't know how Karen does it."_

She took a low stance, holding the knife in reverse grip on her left hand, and lazily waited for the Ursa to get close.

 _"I mean, who fuckin' snipes a guy from 800-something meters away with a sniper rifle dead in the god damn head who was going 200-something km/h while she fuckin' slid down a god damn hillside herself, all at the first attempt?"_

She spun to her right, sidestepping the Ursa's mad lunge at her and buried the knife deep inside its eye, using the momentum of her spin to stab it in hilt-deep. The Ursa skid to a halt, barely alive as it couldn't even register the pain in its eye.

 _"And those kids think_ _ **I'm**_ _impressive."_

Tiella sighed while sauntering over to where the Ursa was, it still trying to get up. She caressed the Ursa's furry neck as she walked over to her knife. She grabbed it tightly by its handle and then twisted it a few times while pushing it even deeper.

A few twists later and it disappears, leaving Tiella alone by the clearing. _"I still can't get over how amazing Aura is. I just love this."_

"I should probably give Glynda a call," she said while taking out her scroll and sauntering over to the jar of sap that she kicked into a nearby mound of leaves.

* * *

"It's official, she's my favorite person in Beacon's staff," Yang said after giving Tiella an impressed whistle.

"She lives up to the Professional Bully nickname so much that I almost felt bad for the Grimm," Blake commented.

"Guy's she's coming!" Ruby whisper-yelled in a small panic.

"I'm not really sure why we're even hiding in the first place," Weiss said.

"Oh, you're right," Ruby said, just realizing the klutzy move.

"And it looks like she _did_ know we were watching," Jaune said as she made eye contact with Tiella who was giving them a casual wave.

"Yeah, don't worry. Everything's taken care of." Tiella said while on the phone with Glynda as she walked within speaking distance to the two teams.

Suddenly, there was the sound of another gunshot. She took a shot just a few centimeters above Weiss' head and casually holstered her pistol while still talking on the scroll. "Yep. I'll be there with RWBY and JNPR. Yeah. Later."

Everyone was surprised by the sudden move—most especially Weiss who looked incredibly furious. But before she tried to question Tiella's actions, she turned around to see the vaporizing form of a stray Beowolf that likely got separated from the pack earlier.

"You could have shot me!" Weiss yelled, looking up at the tall girl angrily—infuriated by the lack of even a single warning from the tall girl.

"You're welcome," she replied, giving her a cheeky smile and a wink.

Weiss didn't know whether to simply thank the girl or not, so she crossed her arms in front of her and turned her face away with an indignant "Hmph!"

"When did you find out we were here?" Ruby asked while gently holding on to Weiss' arm to cool her down.

"When I was trimming down the number of 'Wolves trying to eat me," Tiella stated matter-of-factly. "Now come on, we can talk on the way. Let's get you all back to Glynda."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement before they began their short walk back to the rendezvous point.

* * *

Glynda was keeping count on her scroll the number of students present and the ones that had finished collecting sap.

"Oh wow, I thought you were fucking with me but these _are_ good." Tiella's voice could be heard from a short ways off behind her.

"See? I _told_ you!" followed by Nora.

Glynda turned to the sound of laughter and caught the sight of Tiella licking her fingers after putting it in the jar of sap, along with the rest of her students that were closely following beside and behind her. She put her hands on her hips and addressed Tiella,

"Tiella."

"Glynda," Tiella answered with an acknowledging nod of her head, making a popping sound with her finger as she licked it clean.

"I want to hear your full report as soon as we get back to my office."

"Gotcha."

"Good. Now, our job's not done until we get all our students back to the academy safe and sound. Guard the rear just as before, I'll call everyone to attention."

"Yes, sir." she saluted.

Glynda gave her a small scowl, she then turned and walked to where there were more students. "Students, anyone who's finished collecting the red sap may head over to the rendezvous point and wait for the airships for our pick up. And remember, stay vigilant! The mission isn't over until everyone gets home safely!"

"How come it looks like you're so close with Professor Goodwitch? Do you know her from before you got into Beacon or something?" Yang asked curiously, hands on the back of her head—remembering the time she overheard their talk in her room.

"We had a pretty rough start actually."

"Yeah? Sounds like a story." Yang commented, very interested in Tiella and her professor's shared past.

"It is. But I'll tell you about it when we're not surrounded by Grimm. Now go with Glynda, I'll guard your asses."

"You'd _love_ that wouldn't you?" she said teasingly, wearing her salacious grin while sauntering off as she shook her hips seductively at Tiella.

"Honey, I've seen asses better than yours," she commented dryly, tone clearly unimpressed.

"Wha-" she made an abrupt turn, her face was the very picture of incredulity with her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water—not knowing which words to say in response.

"Pfft..." Ruby stifled her laughter.

"Oh my god," Blake said before she, too, tried to stifle her laughter as well.

"I don't know what I did wrong to be put in a team with you and have staff like you protecting me," Weiss said with a disbelieving shake of her head.

" _Ooooohh!_ " Nora all but cheered.

While sharing in more banter along the way, Tiella saw Team CRDL as they were walking towards the rendezvous point as well.

The three boys behind Cardin—all pissed as hell—were walking in front of him. He was likely keeping an eye on them for the rest of the excursion. Cardin's hard look met with Tiella's eyes sharp eyes and they both nodded in acknowledgment after she gave him a knowing look.

* * *

"So, Little Rose..." Tiella started.

They were on the airship heading back for the academy and it was 4:17 pm already. They were all sitting back in their own seats, taking a break after the trip.

"Yes?" Ruby asked with a tilt of her head.

"What do you think of my babies?" she said, twirling her pistol up to show.

"I've seen better." Yang chimed in, eyes on Tiella's Tiellas.

"Hey, my eyes are up here," she said, giving Yang a raised eyebrow.

"I know," Yang replied nonplussed.

Ruby grabbed Yang's head for a hug and pat her head gently. Yang's unamused expression didn't change, but it did lift her mood.

"Well, they really are simple like you said," she said, trying to contain herself from rambling on. "And, well... I can't really say you need upgrades with it."

Tiella gave Ruby a questioning look, urging her to continue. "Your fighting style looked like it's already something you've become so used to that a sudden weapon change might make it harder for you to fight in the future, even if it gave you better options."

"I guess so," Tiella said, a little disappointed. She was eager to get some help for weapon upgrade ideas and was admittedly a little excited that Ruby proposed that she would help with it, too.

"Though, I can still help you make minor significant changes to your kit! We can start as soon as we get back to Beacon!" Ruby said, noting the slightly disappointed look on Tiella's face.

"Thanks, Little Rose," she said with a warm smile while ruffling Ruby's hair.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Short chapter today, I felt like I overdid it with the last chapter's length._

 _Then again... it did feel right. Whatever._

 _And you know... if banter was a genre, that'd be this story's main genre, I'd suppose._

 _Whatever!_

 _Reviews, please!_


	12. Chapter 12

"And then we meet up with you, then you know the rest."

Tiella was sitting by one of the available couches of the Deputy Headmistress's office, arms spread on top of the backrest with her legs crossed—looking out the window with a bored look. Glynda was sitting across from her, upright and drinking tea while deep in thought.

She put her cup down and addressed Tiella while adjusting her glasses.

"And you're sure you don't want to tell Ozpin?"

"It'll be a nice little exercise for Cardin—start getting his shit together."

"I see."

Glynda contemplated Tiella's decision for a moment, wondering whether she should tell Ozpin or not as well. Attempted murder is something that shouldn't be taken so lightly, and yet here she was, doing just that while taking it as an opportunity to give Team CRDL one last chance to start doing better as befits a team of huntsman trainees at Beacon Academy.

"Worse comes to worst..." Tiella started, her tone cold and monotone.

The look in Tiella's eyes made Glynda worry. She was still looking out the window, though the bored look on her face was gone. The change was subtle, her eyes appeared to be dull and dead—gone were the usual shimmer found in her casual smiles. Instead, it was replaced by the tiredness of one who's recounting things that she was likely not proud to do.

Glynda was reminded once more that the young girl in front of her still had a lot of secrets. Secrets she felt content to be in the dark about.

"...well, never mind."

In an instant, she was wearing her casual smile again. She quickly grabbed Glynda's teacup from across the table and sipped before Glynda could even utter a word of complaint.

"Oh, this is pretty good stuff. You think this'll go well with sweet milk?" she asked cheekily.

Glynda was massaging her temple with her eyes closed, doing her best to calm down. "I haven't tried it with sweet milk, so I wouldn't know."

"Sounds like now's a better time than any to try just that!" Tiella beamed—already on the way to add sweet milk to _Glynda's_ cup.

"That's my cup." shooting Tiella a glare.

"I know."

"You're insufferable."

"Thank you, I try to be."

"May I remind you that I'm still your boss?"

"A _very_ kind boss, I might add."

"One that's just about to run out of kindness if you keep this up."

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there."

"You're getting close, that's for sure."

Tiella turned from the table—where the drinks were made—holding two hot cups with a cheeky grin still plastered on her face. She sauntered over to Glynda's side of the table and gently placed down her cup.

"For you, Headmistress." giving Glynda a casual smile and a wink.

She walked back to her own seat, crossing her legs and leaning forward while gently blowing on her cup.

"And for me."

Glynda sent her a small pout, arms crossed in front of her. She took the cup and blew on it gently once, then took a sip to taste.

"It's too sweet," she commented dryly.

"Just like me to you and you to me."

* * *

About 15 minutes after her talk with Glynda, Tiella made her way to meet up with Ruby.

"So, Little Rose..."

They were in the Forge, at one of the tables, brainstorming on what sort of upgrades would fit Tiella's already well-established style.

"Yes?" Ruby said while spreading out a few large pieces of paper to write down and illustrate ideas.

"How're we gonna go about upgrades? Any ideas? I'm thinking of mixing different types of Dust into each round."

"That's a good place to start. We're only doing minor but significant changes anyway. What types of rounds do you use?"

Tiella contemplated for a bit whether to lie and say Fire Dust rounds or just outright say she used gunpowder. She held her chin and thought for a moment, then answered.

"Ever heard of gunpowder?"

"Yeah, it's like, really hard to get. Why?" she asked worriedly with a raised eyebrow.

"That's what I use in my bullets."

"What!?"

Ruby nearly shrieked, garnering attention from other people in the Forge. She shyly scratched the back of her head, then leaned in closer to Tiella and spoke in a whisper.

"Gunpowder, also known as Black Powder, is illegal in some parts of the kingdoms because they're much more dangerous than Fire Dust! The explosions are bigger even with smaller amounts!"

Tiella leaned down, getting her face close to Ruby and began whispering as well. "Which makes 'em good bullets for my babies," she said in a grin.

"And anyway, I do want to spice things up a bit. Other than gunpowder being a little harder to get, it's a little expensive as well. I'd like to keep em stored for other occasions."

"Well... I guess if you want more Dust varieties, I could ask Weiss to help," she said with a hand on her chin.

"Ice Queen?" remembering the white-haired girl who was Ruby's partner.

"Yeah, she knows all there is to know about Dust."

"She loves Dust that much?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe? She's the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company after all," she commented offhandedly.

"Ah, right. Forgot about that. Let's talk about Dust rounds some other time then."

"Okay," Ruby said while writing down their plans on the corner of one large piece of paper.

Tiella made a mental note to ask Weiss about it herself on a later date. Ruby just finished writing down their shared ideas when she had another thought.

"What about adding more to your kit?"

"Like what?"

"What do you usually have trouble with when you're out on missions?"

"I don't have a decent bed to sleep on," she said with pursed lips and a side-nod of her head.

"Well, yeah but..."

"I'm just kidding, Little Rose. Climbing up on stuff can be a real hassle when I'm in a hurry while carrying something."

"What about a grappling hook?"

"I thought about it and actually tried it, but it's annoying in the situation I just described. I want something I can use with no preparations ideally."

Ruby pursed her lips in thought for a moment, looking up as if searching for an idea from above. Tiella found it cute, as befitting of a 15-year-old girl like Ruby.

"How about a glove with metal claws for climbing? You can just enhance it with your Aura to claw into walls or something."

"That's..." she started, thinking of previous situations where a glove like that would have been useful for sure, "...actually a pretty neat idea, Little Rose," she said, clearly impressed. Admittedly she hadn't thought about using her Aura to coat her weapons yet—she still hadn't begun practicing for it after all.

The praise made Ruby giggle, happy to be of help and being called the nickname as well.

"Let's stick with that for now. It's getting a little late and we can just keep the upgrades coming one at a time."

"Sure thing! You wanna eat before we go?"

Tiella thought about the offer for a moment but, "Thanks but it's fine, I'm pretty sure Glynda's gonna prepare something for dinner."

"Oooohhh, Professor Goodwitch cooks her own meals?" Ruby asked, surprised to learn something interesting about her normally strict and stoic professor.

" _And_ they're pretty darn good." Tiella grinned, bragging that she got to eat said meals. "So when do you think we can get started on that glove?"

"I should be able to get started on it by the weekend," she said after a short moment of recalling the rest of her week's schedule.

"You're gonna do it for me? I mean, is that fine..? I don't really know how to make these things."

"Yeah, it's totally fine!" she said with a wave of her hand and a reassuring smile. "A clawed glove should be pretty easy to make. I should be able to finish it in a day or two at most."

"Alright then, guess I'll leave you to it. Thanks, Little Rose." patting Ruby on the head and ruffling her hair a bit.

"Sure thing!"

"What do you want in exchange?" she said offhandedly.

"Nothing, I'm good," she said in a wave of her hand again.

"Ruby, I'm a professional. I can pay you. How much do you want for it?" her tone implying no room for argument.

"Well..."

Ruby looked down and thought for a bit. She didn't really feel the need to take any compensation for it as she's always happy to help, but with Tiella being so adamant about paying her back, she felt that it would be rude not to take up the offer. So she thought about what she wanted. What came to mind first was a batch of cookies. Then she remembered that she could always get them herself in the cafeteria for free. So food for payment was already a no go.

Tiella was patiently waiting for her in her casual smile when she looked back up. She then let her eyes wander on the tall girl in front of her and remembered their first Combat Class with her.

The way her body moved to produce a tremendous amount of force in such a small span of space and time through purely physical means.

"Can you..." she started, squirming in place under Tiella's casual gaze.

"Yes?" she urged with one raised eyebrow, interested in what Ruby had in mind.

"Can you teach me hand-to-hand..?" she said shyly.

Both of Tiella's eyebrows rose for a bit, taking in Ruby's request.

"Not content with just your great scythe?"

"No!" Ruby immediately denied, "I mean-... I'll always love Crescent Rose, but sometimes I get disarmed, too, and-... well..."

"You suck at hand to hand?"

"Yes," she stated glumly.

"Well, why not ask your sister? She looks like a pretty decent boxer to me," she said, putting one hand on her hip.

"Yang and dad taught me the basics before so I already know a bit, but when they tried to teach me the more advanced stuff, I just couldn't do it."

"Who taught you the scythe, then? I can't imagine you just suddenly picking it up and learning it alone," she asked, crossing her arms.

"That'd be my Uncle Qrow. He's a teacher back at Signal Academy."

Tiella hummed in thought—putting a hand on her chin—considering the difference between Ruby and Yang. She scrutinized the small girl under her sharp gaze, which made Ruby a little nervous. She noted the differences between the sisters' builds and fighting styles as well as their weapons of choice.

"Yeah, I can see why it didn't work out."

"Y-You do?" Ruby said, a little surprised that she could say so after only a short moment of looking at her.

"Yeah." She put a hand on Ruby's head and began explaining, "You're small, so going for the same powerhouse fighting style that your sister goes for is gonna be tough on you."

Ruby started squirming a little bit for feeling a little awkward.

"Something like Ren's fighting style should suit your build better. Especially when you're swinging something like that around."

Ruby gave Tiella a questioning look, wondering what she meant.

"You don't really swing your scythe using brute force, do you?"

"No, I use momentum to guide where the blade where it hits."

"My point exactly. You'd probably get swung by your scythe instead if you did just that. You need the technique to properly use such a weapon, not just physical strength." she took a knee in front of Ruby while keeping her hand on top of her head and continued, "If you're fine with that being your payment, then sure. I'll teach you what I know."

"Really!?" Ruby beamed, ecstatic that she would get to continue her hand to hand training much earlier than she expected.

"Yep." popping the 'p' sound. "Though... I've never really had a student before, so tell me every question you have, okay? We can start tomorrow at 6 in the morning."

"Awesome!" she yelled, jumping in the air in delight and excitement. "I'm gonna be all hiyaaah, wataah, wooaaaa!" she said while making weird chopping gestures in the air.

Tiella gave Ruby her own warm, toothy smile after chuckling at the cutesy act.

 _"Was this how my sister felt when she was treating me things?"_

* * *

On the way back to their own dorms, Ruby and Tiella split ways. Tiella felt her scroll vibrate so she fished it out of her pocket and found a message from Glynda.

[Return to the dorm as soon as you can. I have something important to discuss with you.]

 _"Important enough that I have to be there face to face instead of just sending it to me through the scroll?"_

[There in a minute.]

Tiella walked faster, taking shortcuts through the grass instead of following the pavement like she usually did. She jogged up the stairs to the second floor and continued her fast walk to their apartment.

"I'm here," she said as soon as she let herself in.

Glynda was waiting for her by the end of the living room at the end of the hall with her arms crossed. She invited Tiella to follow her with a nod before taking a seat by the dining table.

"Good. We can talk while having dinner."

"Alright." Tiella followed easily and sat across her. She eyed the prepared food and instantly mouth-watered. "Looks like another good one from Chef Glynda, huh?"

"It's just pasta," Glynda commented dryly.

"And I haven't eaten pasta in months, much less Neapolitan," she said, already taking a plateful for herself. "Wish I could keep eating your food all the time," she commented offhandedly while slurping noisily.

"Mind your manners, please." Glynda chastised, "And you can for as long as you're here."

Tiella looked at her incredulously for a moment, pasta still hanging off her mouth. She slurped it all up in an instant and swallowed thickly. She drank half the water in her glass then spoke up, still wearing that incredulous look on her face.

"Glynda." she started with a serious tone. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you just proposed to me." she finished with a cheeky smile.

It was Glynda's turn to look incredulous. Her eyebrows were scrunched up and her mouth was pursed while giving her a tired look. She put her spoon down and crossed her arms in front of her.

"You're too young for me," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Ah, so you don't mind being with the ladies then?" wiggling her eyebrows.

She scoffed "You? A lady?" with a roll of her eyes.

"I can be if you give me a chance." she leaned forward, elbows on the table while framing her chin with her hands.

"You can't even eat your pasta without slurping loudly," she commented dryly.

"Back where I'm from, it's a compliment."

"I'm sure it is."

"I'm being serious," she said in a chuckle, leaning back on her chair. "Slurping loudly is a sign that you enjoy the food so much that you forgot your table manners in the moment."

Glynda only looked back disbelievingly. Tiella on the other hand contentedly went back to noisily slurping her pasta which was almost finished already.

"I'm positive you always forget your table manners."

"Because, Glynda, my dear Headmistress, I really do love your cooking," she said in a small gentle smile.

Glynda sighed and went back to eating as well. "Glad to hear it."

"So, if you could just wait for a year or two, I'll be the one doing the proposing next time, okay? Properly, too," she said with a wink while getting herself another full serving.

"Are you really that into me?" she asked disbelievingly. Actually wondering whether the girl was serious or not.

She pursed her lips and scrunched her eyebrows while she thought about the question for a moment before answering, "Mostly your home cooking, but yes."

"I admire your honesty," she stated dryly.

"Is that a yes?"

"I don't feel like being one of your flings, so, no."

"Who says you're gonna be a fling?"

Glynda was surprised by the seriousness of the tone, so she looked up from her food and back at the girl just across the table. Her eyes weren't carrying the usual casualness she wore nor was she giving her a cheeky grin like she usually did.

It caught her off guard, seeing another side to the enigmatic mercenary girl. It made her wonder whether she was being serious or not once more. One moment it was like her entire personality was the word Sarcasm itself, the next moment she looked like a war veteran looking back on her decades of service when she's left alone.

And now, this.

She looked back on her plate, avoiding eye contact with the girl. She was only half done with her plate during their talk, and yet it looked like Tiella was already on her second helping. She went back to eating and spoke after a bite.

"We have more pasta if you want, though it'll have a different sauce."

Tiella looked down, her expression changing ever so slightly. Was she disappointed? She couldn't tell for sure because the girl was already wearing her casual smile while noisily slurping up her pasta again.

"That'd be great, thanks."

They spent the next few moments in silence, avoiding eye contact with each other. Tiella eyed the numerous medals, badges, and trophies on the walls and shelves of Glynda's living room.

"By the way, what did you wanna talk to me about that was so important you couldn't just message me about it?" Tiella asked, breaking the awkward silence that was filling the room.

"Right," Glynda said, drinking from her glass after being reminded. "It's about Qrow."

"Like the bird?"

"No. Qrow with a 'Q' instead of a 'C'. It's the name of Ozpin's spy, he's informed us that he'll be back by tomorrow afternoon."

"Ah, back to business then," she said, her sharp eyes narrowing further. "So, you want me to be ready for a meeting?"

"Yes," she said while going back to her dinner. "There will also be another person, the General of Atlas' Military, James Ironwood—though he'll be joining us via holographic transmission."

 _"Right, can't exactly message me that their spy is coming home. Wait a minute, Qrow..?"_

"That's not the same Qrow that's Ruby's uncle, is he?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They are the same person, yes. Did you learn of him from Ms. Rose?"

"Yeah, though she only mentioned that he taught her how to use a scythe. Pretty insane if you ask me," she commented offhandedly. _"And a general of some foreign military? That's gonna fucking suck."_

"I can agree with you on that one."

"I'm a _huge_ fan of the military, by the way, I'm sure we'll hit it off just _swimmingly_."

"General Ironwood is a trustworthy and respectable man."

"Yeah, yeah. It's just that back where I'm from, I didn't have a lot of fun times with _any_ military."

"I can imagine why." she commented dryly, "Still, do try to be civilized with each other."

"Only if he's civilized with me," she said while taking another helping of pasta, though it would be spaghetti and meatballs instead.

After dinner, they both stood to clean up the table. Glynda washed the dishes while Tiella collected them for her and put them back in their drawers. Glynda reminded her that she could just use her Telekinesis for it, but she was adamant about helping at least a little bit as a so-called freeloader.

They both brushed their teeth and went on to do their own business. Glynda was on her scroll by the couch after a warm bath, organizing her students' files while Tiella changed into her sportswear.

"So... Glynda."

"Yes?" she asked, not looking away from her scroll.

"Can you help me with turning my Aura off again?"

Glynda paused her work to look at a slightly squirming Tiella.

"You said that there are different ways to do it, right?"

"Yes, I did," she said, standing up and walking over to where Tiella was standing. "One of them involves me forcefully draining your Aura."

"Any other, less violent way?" she asked before pursing her lips.

"I knock you out," she said flatly.

"The _hell's_ the difference?" she asked incredulously.

"You stay conscious in the first method."

"Is it just me, or are you getting snarkier and snarkier?"

"Just you."

"Right." she drawled. "Whatever. Do what you gotta do. I just wanna get on with my night workout."

Tiella straightened her back and closed her eyes tightly, bracing herself for Glynda violently breaking her Aura.

Glynda let a smirk appear on her face as she eyed the nervous girl. She found it uncharacteristically cute of the usually cool and tomboyish girl. She concentrated a great deal of her Aura into her left hand—causing it to glow brightly, nearly swallowing the lights of the room.

She gently placed her hand on Tiella's cheek, feeling for the girl's Aura on her own. Tiella's Aura glowed a bright red, a reaction from coming in contact with hers. When she was sure a connection was made, she hardened her hand, careful not to grip on to her cheek. She clutched her Aura onto the girl's, then slowly pulled her hand away—pulling Tiella's Aura outward.

Shortly thereafter, she tightened her grip on Tiella's Aura—as if she was trying to break a glass wall, crushing the girl's Aura under the heavy pressure of her combined Aura enhanced hand and Telekinesis—putting nearly a ton of force before Tiella's Aura completely broke.

Tiella gasped hard, opening her eyes as soon as her Aura broke. She doubled over, putting her hands on her knees as she tried to keep herself standing while breathing heavily with a very flushed expression.

"So.." she gasped out, "Aura's out...?"

"Yes," she took Tiella's hand and gently guided her to the couch, "your Aura's gone for now. Take a few minutes to catch your breath."

"I'mma... do... just that... hooo, boy," she said, leaning on the armrest of the couch as she took all of the space with her legs hanging off the other side, laying on her back.

"Your Aura should be back after a full night's rest, in case you're wondering," she said while making her way into the kitchen to fetch Tiella a tall glass of water.

Too tired to make a coherent verbal response, Tiella simply made a grunting sound and gave Glynda a thumbs up instead.

After a few minutes, Tiella tried to sit upright, though she ended up slouching.

"That has _got_ to be the _weirdest sexual experience_ I've ever had," Tiella said, panting lightly with a visible blush on her face.

"Excuse me?" Glynda asked wide-eyed.

"I don't know what you did to me, but it made me feel _hot_ and _bothered_ when you _touched_ my cheek, then it just sort of _slow-burned_ for a while building up heat where you... _caressed_ me, until you kinda forced a _climax_ on me without _actually_ making me orgasm or... _something_ ," she explained wide-eyed, recounting her experience to Glynda who had no idea how to react. "I have no idea what you did or what I'm talking about but that's how it felt to me."

"I... did not need to know that," she said incredulously while looking away.

"Actually, I feel like you should. Was that the first time you did that to someone?"

"Y-Yes."

"Looks like we both lost our V-Cards on that front, eh?" Tiella grinned at her salaciously.

"Please, just get on with your workout," she said as she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose while trying to keep herself from blushing at Tiella's description.

"You know, Glynda... I could _definitely_ get used to _that._ " she spoke with a sultry voice and her face still flushed, "I think you just _awakened_ something inside me, _my dear Headmistress_."

Her words and tone sent shivers down Glynda's spine, causing her to blush further. "I don't appreciate the tone you're talking to me with, Ms. Margory."

Tiella stood from the couch and slowly, and seductively, strutted her way towards Glynda.

"Back to Ms. Margory, am I..?" she touched Glynda's cheek and whispered in her ear, her sultry voice reverberating in Glynda's mind.

"Y-Yes." she swallowed thickly,

"You're acting quite unusual right now." she backed a step away,

"You're still tired, t-that's all." and another,

"Why don't you take a few more minutes?" and another,

"B-Before you get on with your workout?" and her back hit a wall.

Tiella, all the while, was following her step by step and as soon as Glynda stopped, she put her hand on the wall to pin her in place—leaning over as Glynda lowered herself while looking away.

"I think..." Tiella continued in her low, sultry voice.

Glynda did her best to avoid eye contact with the girl, letting her eyes wander around. However, she found it hard to do as her vision was mostly covered by Tiella's body. A _well-toned body_ in nothing but a _sports bra_ and _short_ shorts. Chiseled abs, toned biceps, a slim waist, a sexy bust, and wide hips..? It was hard for her to look elsewhere as she was pinned in place.

So she closed her eyes tightly instead, waiting for Tiella to finish.

"...that I should be working out at the gym instead," she said with a monotone voice.

And instantly she backed away and kept walking toward the door, exiting without looking back.

Glynda felt her legs give out, making her sit on the wooden floor as she stared blankly at her apartment's door—face red as a tomato.

* * *

The gym, unsurprisingly, was very empty at night. What surprised her instead was that it was still available for use even during the later hours and that a few students were there as well.

She saw them working out quietly, some even with their earphones on. Not wanting to disturb them, she searched for a relatively empty space, far away from where most of the students were. And there was where she began her night exercises.

She quietly did her routine, content with focusing on keeping count of the number of squats, push-ups, and sit-ups she'd been doing. She was in the middle of her pull-ups when she saw a familiar white-haired girl walk into the gym as well.

 _"Weiss likes working out at night, too? Huh, thought she'd be the type to worry about her skin's condition and try to get a good 8 hours of sleep a day."_

She continued her pull-ups, ignoring the girl as she currently had no urgent business with her. The talk with Dust can wait for when they're both free.

 _"Wait, what time is it anyway?"_ she thought while pausing mid-pull up, searching for a clock inside the massive gym. After a few seconds of her eyes wandering, she finally found it. _"Just a couple minutes past 8? Not too late like I thought then."_

She got off the pull-up bar with a plop on the mat as soon as she was done and immediately went for a nearby bench to lay flat on her back. She grabbed tightly onto the underside of the handles of the bench and moved on to her more intensive workout: The Dragon Flag.

She started easy, raising her knees up first followed by a thrust straight into the air and slowly letting her legs fall down. After about 12 reps, she switched to keeping her legs straight from the way up all the way back down. She was so focused on doing dragon flags for the next few minutes that she did not hear the voice calling out to her all the while.

"Excuse me, Tiella?" a voice called out from beside her.

"Huh?" she said, snapping out of her reverie. "Weiss? What's up?"

Weiss was standing next to her in her own gym clothes. She was wearing a light blue T with the Schnee insignia on its back, white gym shorts, white ankle high socks and light blue shoes that had the Schnee insignia as well on the sides.

"Well... I wanted to speak with you but it looked like you were in deep thought," she asked, a little unsure of whether she should have interrupted Tiella. "I'm sorry, should I not have disturbed you?"

"Was I?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You've been holding that pose for 17 minutes."

Tiella, as was pointed out to her, hadn't raised her legs any higher than the midrange and had been in that position since without her noticing.

"Oh," she said, immediately flopping her legs down to sit upright. _"Damn it, what the hell am I doing? I really shouldn't have done that to Glynda."_

"Looks like I was, huh...? Guess I don't need to bother with the rest of my core workout. So, what's up?"

"Yes, well... Ruby mentioned something about you needing tips with Dust?"

"Yeah, I don't really use them a lot outside of the most basic stuff."

"If you'd like, I can teach you all that I know." Weiss politely offered.

"Just the things that would work well with my kit would be enough, thanks."

"I see..." Weiss held her chin in contemplation for a moment.

"May I... ask you for a favor in exchange for this as well?" she asked, twining her fingers together.

"As long as I can do it." she nodded.

"I'm positive that you can. It's just... well... It's a matter of whether you're willing."

"Okay?" urging the girl to continue with a reassuring smile.

Weiss took a deep breath and straightened her posture. "I want you to take Team RWBY under your wing."

Tiella pursed her lips and scrunched her eyebrows while looking at Weiss, slowly taking in her words.

"You... want me to... be your team's personal trainer?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," Weiss said before pursing her lips. Anxious to hear her answer.

Tiella thought for a moment before answering, "Why me? Aren't the professors here enough?"

"They are, it's just that... I heard from Ruby that you're going to be teaching her hand-to-hand."

"Yeah, we start tomorrow at 6 in the morning."

"And I just figured, if it's fine with you... we'd like to learn with Ruby, too. At least, I do."

"You want me to teach you hand to hand? I don't really see how my rough combat would translate well into your flexible swordsmanship."

"I..." she began, however, she was unsure how to continue—unsure of how to convince Tiella to help her get better. "...you're right. Sorry, I asked," she said in resignation, straightening up her posture once more. "I'll still be happy to help you with Dust however, simply let me know when you're free. I'll be taking my leave now. Have a nice night, Tiella." she finished politely before turning to leave.

Tiella watched the girl take a few steps away with pursed lips and a pensive stare.

"Hold on." she said, causing the girl to pause in her steps, "I can't help you with your style. We're just too different when it comes to that." she stood and walked over to Weiss who was now facing her again with what appeared to be her business face.

"But—that doesn't mean I can't help you with the basics."

Weiss blinked, confused by Tiella's offer. "You... believe I need help with the basics?" she said with a sharp glare, offended that someone she was beginning to look up to thought so little of her.

"No, you've got that down nicely, don't get me wrong. What I'm saying is that I can help you strengthen them." she said in a casual smile, "When your back is against the wall and nothing else works, all you'll have left to fall back on is your basics. And a stronger foundation results in a much better overall performance."

Weiss went into deep thought with her words. She hadn't considered brushing up on her basics since she got to Beacon.

"It'll help you become even more familiar with your limits as well as improving your basic physical capabilities." Tiella continued explaining, "Strength, speed, stamina, endurance, etcetera-etcetera—if you can keep raising these things, you'll be able to perform more advanced techniques with ease."

She said while falling down to the ground and straight into a push-up. "The more advanced techniques you know and master, the better you obviously become." she did a couple of normal push-ups until she switched to only doing it with one hand.

"And ironically enough, the better you get, the more you realize how important the basics are," she said in between one hand push ups, sweat forming on her forehead once more before switching into one-finger push-ups.

"And it all circles back," she said, as she raised feet from the ground with a kick, standing steadily on the tip of her finger. She kept the one finger handstand pose for a short moment, building up a small puddle of sweat on the mat below.

Weiss listened and watched intently the show Tiella put on for her as she explained—she understood that the girl was the type to show off whenever she could, however, it was that moment that made it clear to her that she was _not_ arrogant. That there was nothing overconfident with the way she carried herself, even if she was complacent.

Tiella was the most familiar with her limits, so she knew very well what she can and can't do. And also why she always strove to break said limits. In a way, it was humbling to Weiss, seeing someone who she originally believed to be prideful put great thought and emphasis on her roots was refreshing to her.

Unlike her tutors who were content with her getting something right only once before moving on to the next step, Tiella was the type to practice until she couldn't get it wrong.

Tiella stood on her feet and straightened her back with an exaggerated bow before facing Weiss with a casual smile. "I know you think I was just trying to show off, but-"

"But you were just showing me the results of training your basics to the utmost." Weiss finished for her in a small smile of her own.

"That's right." Tiella grinned, "It takes _a lot_ of time, of course." she continued, "I only managed to do one finger handstands no longer than a few months ago. And I started training nearly every day almost a decade ago."

"I see." Weiss scrunched her eyebrows and nose in contemplation of her words.

"So, if you're okay with me just giving you my tips and tricks with improving your core abilities and strengths, I'd be happy to help," she said with a casual smile and an extended hand.

Weiss looked at her hand for a moment before looking back at Tiella. She smiled and accepted the offered hand, "I'd be honored to have you teach me all that you can, Ms. Margory."

"Oooohhh, no you don't," Tiella said with a cheeky grin while ruffling Weiss's hair, causing the girl to pout angrily. "You're calling me Tiella. None of those titles."

"But-"

"Upupupupup!" she interrupted quickly, putting a finger on Weiss's little nose. "It's Tiella or _nothing_ ," she said in a cheeky grin.

"Of course," Weiss complied with a small smile and an acknowledging bow. "Tiella."

"Good! You and Ruby meet me by the sidewalks of Beacon at around 6:15 in the morning. You'll be joining me and Velvet in our morning runs, then we get started on your individual training sessions."

"Understood."

"Also, it'll be my first time teaching, so don't be afraid to ask, okay? I said this to Ruby, too."

Weiss simply nodded at the tall girl. She was trying to hide it but she was definitely excited to see how Tiella would be able to help her improve.

"Good! Why don't we take a shower before we head back to our dorms? I'll walk you there."

Weiss blinked at Tiella, considering her offer. She didn't really need it as Beacon is a relatively safe place—not counting the fact that she can handle herself well enough—though at the same time she didn't want to be rude. "Thanks. And yes, let's shower."

 _"I just keep on getting busier and busier. Whatever, it's not a bad thing."_

After the shower, Tiella walked Weiss to her dorm.

They said their goodbyes there and Tiella split towards her apartment. To where she left Glynda after _that_.

 _"Right... how to deal with that super stupid situation with Glynda that was brought to you by yours truly..? God... I wasn't even drunk and yet I did just that. Fuck me, am I that lonely? Am I having a dry spell? Maybe I'm the one that needs to get laid."_

Her anxieties never really left her that night.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _So! I did a thing._

 _I'm not really sure what to say here... so I'll just thank you again for reading another chapter of Lost Star!_

 _I'll be trying to move the plot a bit with Qrow's arrival, so there's that, I guess._

 _Anyway, reviews, please!_

 _P.S. 69 follows, ahuehuehu- I'm sorry, I know. I have the sense of humor of a 9-year-old._


	13. Chapter 13

AN: _Hello Again!_

 _I thought that writing Tiella's past as Extra chapters would be nice, though putting them at the end or writing them as flashbacks does sound like a better idea._

 _So, I deleted it and put the extra chapter at the end of this one instead._

 _Thanks again!_

* * *

The morning breeze came in through the open window of Tiella's guest room. It gently blew through the open curtains, rustling the sleeping girl awake—just in time to prepare for her morning.

She opened her eyes, still groggy from the oddly cooler night. She sat upright and stretched her arms and back. Her hair was an untied mess that framed her face, so she brushed her hair behind both ears and stood from the bed.

She lazily walked out her bedroom door and straight into the living room where she found Glynda who was already in the kitchen in an apron—making preparations for breakfast.

She heard the door open and a stifled yawn from behind her, so she turned to greet Tiella,

"Good morning, Ti-" but was stopped in the middle of her sentence.

"Mornin', G..." she yawned again, still feeling a little too sleepy, "I'mma wash my face..." she mumbled, already sauntering over to the bathroom.

Glynda heard the faucet open followed by splashes of water from the bathroom. She drank a glass of water and pinched the bridge of her nose before speaking tiredly, "Tiella."

"Yeah?" she said while walking out of the bathroom feeling refreshed—her drowsiness washed away by the cold tap water.

Glynda turned her back on Tiella and focused on making preparations for their breakfast once more. "I don't particularly care how you wish to sleep, but please,"

"Hmm?" Tiella tilted her head questioningly.

"never leave your room without clothes ever again," she said exasperatedly, already tired of her morning.

"Oh shi-"

She expected to hear another sarcastic remark from the girl but heard nothing instead. She turned her head, wondering what was wrong only to see Tiella's back turned to her as she looked at the ceiling.

"I, uh... bad habit?" she said.

"Just go wear something already," she said with a shake of her head, returning to her preparations.

Tiella rushed into her room without another word.

As soon as she was done changing, she ran past Glynda before she could say anything, and rushed outside the dorm to where she would meet up with Velvet, Ruby, and Weiss.

Tiella did her stretches while waiting for the rest as she was a little earlier than usual.

 _"Thanks, me. I really needed to make my situation with Glynda even more awkward than it already was."_

* * *

 _The night before..._

As soon as Tiella got back, she saw Glynda working on her scroll again by the couch. When she got into the living room, they made eye contact—but not even a second lasted before they looked the other way.

"Welcome back," Glynda said curtly, returning to her scroll.

"Hn." making a noncommittal response.

Tiella stood by the end of the hall for a little longer in a reverie before shaking herself back to reality.

 _"Not good. Not good at all."_

She walked to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and filled it with cold water stored from one of the pitchers in the fridge.

 _"What am I? A 12 year old experiencing her first love? Get a grip, girl. You've killed people before! What's so special about a hot milf blushing heavily from being pinned to a wall, right?"_

And instantly the image popped back into her mind, causing her to blush heavily as well.

The image of Glynda trying not to look her way—eyes wide and blushing heavily with her back against the wall. She looked so defenseless—and thinking about it again made Tiella want to see more of it.

She gulped down her water in one swig before exhaling loudly. Momentarily catching Glynda's attention, so she gave her a little wave of her hand, to which Glynda only raised an eyebrow at before returning to her scroll.

 _"Except that hot milf lets me crash at her place without a complaint and cooks for me without my need to ask."_

She put her hands on the kitchen island and hung her head in thought.

 _"Delicious, home-cooked meals right after a long day of work and playing with the kids..."_

She bit her lips lightly in frustration while continuing her train of thought.

 _"Not to mention I've spilled my guts to her and she's still willing to stick with me... Now hold on just fucking second."_

Her eyes widened, abruptly raising her head to look at the person in question. She was still sitting on the couch, working on her scroll. Her feet were raised and she was leaning on the armrest. She reached for her teacup that was on the table and gently sipped.

Tiella hard focused on Glynda's teacup reaching her lips—replaying the scene over and over again in her mind—while a heavy blush resurfaced on her face.

 _"Shit."_

Glynda caught her stare and tilted her head ever so slightly and raised her eyebrow questioningly, causing Tiella to shake awake from her reverie. She ignored Glynda's unspoken question and put the glass in the sink. She then rushed to her room and stepped inside but left the door open ajar before peeking from inside while looking down.

"Goodnight, Glynda."

Glynda, all the while, watched with an incredulous look. She wondered where the girl from before dinner had gone to before remembering that Tiella greeted her goodnight and was still waiting by the door.

"Y-Yes. Goodnight, Tiella."

Tiella awkwardly nodded her head and closed the door.

Glynda let out a sigh and removed her glasses before placing them on the table. She rested her head on her hand, partially covering her face, by the armrest.

 _"Looks like I'm not the only one still bothered by it."_ she thought, before wearing her glasses again and going back to her scroll.

* * *

"Why did I wish I was the teacup?" she sighed.

"You want to be a teacup?"

" _Jesus H-!_ Ruby!"

"What's a 'Jesus H'?" she asked innocently.

"It's- uh, it's nothing." she dismissed.

Ruby blinked at her in confusion but didn't say anything more. "Well, we're here now!" she said cheerily, "Actually we've been here since a few minutes ago but you were kinda deep in thought for a moment and sighing and blushing a lot. Are you sick?" she asked worriedly.

Ruby wore her cloak on top of her gym clothes—a red form-fitting sleeveless shirt with her surname on its back and a rose at the front, black shorts with her rose decal on the side and ankle high white socks paired with red and black themed workout sneakers.

Weiss and Velvet stood on either side of Ruby, wearing their usual gym clothes as well.

"Oh."

"You've also been holding that pose since we got here." Weiss chimed from beside Ruby.

Tiella looked at herself and saw that she was holding a high kick at a straight 90-degree angle from the ground.

"Uhhhhh-I didn't know I was doing that..?" she said while chuckling dryly, immediately standing upright.

"Are you okay?" Velvet asked while lightly scratching her cheek with a finger.

"Yeah, totally fine. Just got lost in thought for a bit." she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Anyway, you guys done warming up?"

"Yep!"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Good!" Tiella hopped from foot to foot in place to prepare for a run, but remembered to ask a question, "Can you girls help me turn my Aura off?"

"Turn it off?" Ruby asked with a tilt of her head.

"But why?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"She prefers to train without her Aura on." Velvet explained, "Though... it's my first time hearing that you don't know how. How did you get your Aura off the first day we trained together?"

"I sorta had Glynda remove it for me." she lied, scratching the back of her head with a wry smile. "And the only reason I asked is because I can never really do it on my own," she said while holding her arm defensively.

"Are you still not able to control your Aura?" Weiss asked.

"You could put it that way," she said with pursed lips.

"Does that mean you don't know your Semblance yet?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah..." she said, looking away with a wry smile.

"That's... a little hard to believe," Weiss said, crossing her arms in front of her. "Did no one teach you?"

"Yeah..." she drawled, rubbing her nape in embarrassment, "...I'm mostly self-taught." she lied again.

"That's even harder to believe," Weiss said with another raised eyebrow.

"I've been joining her in her runs for a few days now and it's always how she's done it."

"Does that mean you did that handstand without Aura as well?" Weiss asked, connecting the dots together.

"Yeah, I had Glynda remove my Aura for me last night," she said before blushing faintly at the memory.

"What handstand?" Ruby asked.

"I was at the gym last night like usual and she—while standing in front of me—deliberately fell forward into a push-up, then did a one-hand push-up, to a one- _finger_ push up, and finally a _one-finger handstand_ ," Weiss said in a disbelieving tone. She still found it a little hard to believe even though she was there to see it for herself.

"She even held the pose for a while in front of me."

Ruby's mouth hung agape, she'd only seen one finger handstands from martial arts movies.

Velvet's eyebrows rose in mild astonishment, she could pull the same thing off as well, however, it would have to be Aura assisted.

"So... can you help me or not?" Tiella asked shyly, not really comfortable at being gawked at so closely—despite being the type to take every opportunity to show off.

"Sorry, I'm not really sure how I can do it for you," Ruby said with an apologetic smile.

"I'm not confident enough to be able to do it without hurting you." Velvet said in an apologetic smile as well.

Tiella looked to Weiss with a small, pleading smile. Weiss was quiet for a while with a pensive look on her face before speaking,

"Let me see if I can do something about it," she said while walking up to Tiella.

"Thanks."

Weiss raised her open palms in front of Tiella and summoned her glyphs.

Her glyphs began spinning as she waved her hand, manipulating her glyphs as she went. She had a hard look on her face as she focused on what she was doing. Tiella glowed the usual bright red as a reaction.

Tiella stood upright, trying not to move so much as she observed Weiss do her thing. She wasn't really sure what Weiss was doing, it looked like she was trying to manipulate something with how her hands and eyes were always moving.

Ruby and Velvet watched silently from the side in fascination and wonder.

After a moment, Weiss stopped and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, it looks like I might need some practice with my Semblance, as well," she said with a sullen look. "I verified whether I could help you suppress your Aura with my glyphs and it looks like I still lack the knowledge and skills to properly do so without doing some damage to you."

While in the middle of her little pity party, Weiss felt a hand gently patting her on the head. She looked up to see Tiella giving her a reassuring smile.

"That's alright, Ice Queen. I need more practice with my Aura anyway."

Weiss gave Tiella a look before shaking her hand off her head and then pouting. "Please, stop treating me like a child."

"I'll stop when you grow another 3 inches."

"I will! Don't make it sound like I won't, because I _definitely will!_ " she said indignantly.

"Anyway!" she said with a clap of her hands.

"Don't ignore me!"

"Before we get started for reals, I'll have you two run without your Aura." she continued, with a casual smile.

"Ha?"

"What."

"Yep." popping the 'p' sound. "So, let me know when you've turned 'em off, okay?" she then turned to Velvet, "You ready?"

"Ready," she said with a confident smile. Though she did worry a good deal for the two first years. They probably have no idea what they're being made to do.

The three girls suppressed their own Auras as per Tiella's order and took a few deep breaths to get accustomed to the stronger pull of gravity on them.

Tiella saw their glows appear and disappear, guessing that their Auras were turned off.

"Looks like we're all good. Now then, try to keep up, alright?" she said in her signature casual smile.

The two girls nodded and lined up behind Tiella and Velvet. Before they began, however, Velvet leaned closer to them and spoke in a whisper.

"You don't really have to try to keep up, just do your best and rest as soon as you can't anymore."

The two girls sent her questioning looks but before they could get an answer, Tiella was already sprinting away—followed shortly by Velvet.

"Wha-"

"What in the world-"

The two were dumbstruck for a second before realizing that they were being left behind.

The followed as best as they could, however, they barely finished a lap before nearly passing out on the pavement they were following.

* * *

Shortly after their first— _and only_ —lap, they found themselves taking a short break on a nearby bench under the trees.

"Wha..." Weiss gasped the words out, "What kind of... _maniac..._ does stamina training... like that..?"

"I..." Ruby said in very much the same manner as Weiss, "I never realized... how out of shape I am... without my Aura..."

They gasped for air where they sat, taking in hard and labored breaths. After a while, they saw Tiella with Velvet following closely behind—both of them barely breaking a sweat. They both sprinted past them with a wave of their hands, then halted to a walk for the next 30 seconds—only to sprint again.

They both watched them idly until they disappeared into a corner. Weiss hung her head sideways as she felt the ache spread over her body. Ruby hung her head while leaning on her knees with her elbows, likewise feeling the soreness as well—and they both caught their breaths in silence until Ruby spoke again.

"Hey, Weiss?" Ruby said, her breathing already beginning to stabilize.

"Yes, Ruby?" she turned to face her still slouching leader.

"I think we should do this as a team."

"I think so, too."

"I'll make it an order for all of us to get better."

"That's a great idea."

"I need your help to organize a training schedule, like no Aura in the morning sessions and then maybe some sparring sessions without them, too."

"We'll need to prepare wooden versions of our weapons so as to not heavily injure ourselves."

"Probably some proper sparring gear, too."

"You're right... I've almost never taken a hit without my Aura before."

Ruby finally raised her head and met Weiss in the eyes with her own filled with determination. "Me, too."

They were silent once more before Ruby gave her an energetic smile, "Wanna try another lap?"

Weiss flinched at the idea, rubbing her arm in hesitation while looking away with a wry smile. She still felt a little too sore all over to want to start moving already, however...

She looked back at Ruby's expectant gaze and sighed in resignation, "Fine."

Ruby beamed at her answer before pulling Weiss in for a tight hug. "You're the best!"

"Ew! Ruby! Please!" Weiss said while trying to lightly push Ruby away—keyword: try, "We're both sweaty!"

Ruby easily let go and giggled while Weiss was wiping her sweat off. Once they're done, they both got ready for another lap.

They managed to run halfway before they were both walking back to the starting point, gasping for air all the while.

* * *

"Good work, ladies!" Tiella said in a casual smile, tossing the two early retirees a bottle of cold water each.

They were both surprised by the throw and barely caught the bottles. They said their thanks and immediately drank their fill.

"You guys ready to hit the gym?"

"We're STILL gonna hit the gym!? That felt like a full body work out already!" Weiss said after nearly doing a spit take.

"Well, yeah! That was just to train your stamina. I told you last night didn't I? You join us for a run, then we hit the gym for your individual training sessions."

"Err... yes," she said, resigned to her fate.

Ruby put a hand on Weiss's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Weiss. I'll be with you."

She hid her face in Ruby's shoulder and whined, "Don't touch me."

Ruby pat her head gently to calm her down. Tiella and Velvet watched the two's interaction all the while before Velvet leaned in to whisper, "You're having fun with this, aren't you?"

"Am I that obvious?" she said, barely able to stop her casual smile from turning into a cheeky grin.

"You wear the same face as Coco when you're up to something," she said in a wry smile.

"Nothing I can do about that," she said, not bothering to hide her cheeky grin from Velvet anymore. "Anyway!" she said, with a loud clap of her hands. "Let's go! Wouldn't wanna be late for your first class later, do we?"

They all nodded in agreement before heading for the gym.

As soon as they got there, they saw a certain busty blonde waiting for them in her gym clothes. She was wearing a yellow sports bra with black linings and a flaming heart logo on the left. She wore black _short_ shorts with yellow and black workout sneakers paired with white ankle high socks.

"Took you guys long enough," Yang said walking toward them from the punching bag area.

"Yang?" Ruby said with a tilt of her head, "Are you here to join us?"

"Something like that," she said in a grin while looking at Tiella.

"If you're looking for a fight, it's gonna have to wait."

"I know. Ruby said you'll be training her in hand to hand." she said with her arms crossed, "Now, _that_ I wanna see." she said with a grin.

"I'm still thinking of a proper way to get them started, so don't expect too much." she said in a grin of her own, "First, Ruby," she called.

"Yes?" she said while walking up to Tiella.

"Let's see what you got," she said while walking to one of the empty arenas.

Velvet waved at the others goodbye as she went for the jungle gym where she usually practiced.

"Uh..." Ruby was caught for words, her eyes wide—worried for what Tiella had in store for her. "I- uh- I- well-.." she sighed in resignation before wearing her determined face, "Okay." and followed suit.

Tiella stood in the middle of the arena with her arms spread in a welcoming manner. "I want you to hit me with all you've got."

"What," she said, dumbfounded by the sudden order. _"Oh... well that's good to know. I was kind of afraid we would have a match."_ she sighed in relief. "But why?"

"Well, I have to know where you're currently standing on before I could think of a proper training regime for you."

"Oh, makes sense."

"Don't hold back, okay?"

"Okay," Ruby said while flaring up her Aura.

She then took a runner's starting position, crouching at one end of the arena. Petals then began appearing one after another, slowly swirling around Ruby where she crouched.

"Uh..." she said, worry filling her tone. "Little Rose? What are you doing?"

Ruby didn't hear Tiella as she was deep in concentration. She took a deep breath and slowly released it before she sprinted towards Tiella with a yell—a vortex of rose petals slowly forming behind her.

"Little Rose!?" she said, her anxiety levels shooting up.

Ruby then leaped into the air and spun using her Semblance, before rushing forward at an even faster rate—leaving a tornado of dust and rose petals in her wake.

Tiella's eyes went wide in fear—her mouth hanging agape. She tried to run away however the force that pulled her in was far too strong for her to escape.

" _OH, MY GOOOooo...!_ "

Her words turned into terrified screams as she was dragged into the tornado behind Ruby.

Ruby kept dashing forward until she reached the other end of the arena where she screeched into an abrupt halt—the force she generated impacting the wall and leaving a large crack on it despite not even coming into direct physical contact with it. She jumped high, avoiding the incoming whirlwind she created, to another part of the arena that was relatively safer.

Tiella was still screaming as she was flung in a circle before crashing into the wall and being buried halfway into it head first, her lower half hanging lifelessly sideways.

Ruby let out a big sigh of relief, proud that she was able to pull off the move she'd been practicing in secret before sending her team a peace sign and a grin.

"I did it! _Woohoo!_ " she jumped in joy.

Weiss and Yang both stared wide-eyed with their jaws nearly hit the floor in speechlessness. Weiss was constantly pointing at Tiella and Ruby, switching between them as she tried to form words. Yang held her open palms outward, also trying in vain to say something like Weiss.

A large crowd was slowly forming, curious onlookers wanting to see what the loud noise was about.

"Umm, Ruby?" a voice yelled from outside the arena.

Ruby searched for the voice around her and saw Pyrrha waving at her. "Hey, Pyrrha!" she waved as well.

"I think Tiella needs help!"

"Whaaat?" she yelled.

"I think Tiella needs help to get out of the wall!"

"Out of the wa-.." Ruby's eyes widened and looked for Tiella. Her eyes widened even more when she saw her embedded in the middle of the giant crack on the wall.

" _Tiella, nooo!_ " she screamed in panic, disappearing in a wave of rose petals with her Semblance. She reappeared parallel to the ground with her feet on the wall and her holding on to Tiella's legs tightly to pull.

"Weiss! Yang! I need help!" she said after a few attempts to yank Tiella out.

"W-We'll be right there!" Yang said, snapping out of her daze, already running to her sister.

"Don't pull on her too much!" Weiss said, following suit.

"Allow me to help!" Pyrrha said as she ran beside Weiss.

"Is everybody okay!? I heard a loud crash!" Velvet asked in a panic after coming into the arena from the jungle gym. She gasped when she saw the crack on the wall as well as what looked to be Tiella's lower half sticking out of it. "Tiella!?"

"Ruby! I'll use my glyphs to assist, so pull her out slowly!" Weiss said from below, already summoning a series of glyphs engulfing Tiella and a large one appearing on the wall with her at the center.

"Don't worry, Ruby! I'll catch her!" Yang yelled, Pyrrha and Velvet already beside her and waiting as well.

"It's not working!" Ruby yelled in a panic.

"What do you mean it's not working!?" Weiss as well.

"I can't pull her out gently!"

"So, do it gradually!"

"Okay!"

Ruby stuck her tongue out while in deep concentration, gently pulling Tiella out again—gradually pulling harder and harder. Eventually, a few small pieces of the wall fell off which helped loosen its hold on Tiella.

"Here we see a small group of _kind_ and _courageous_ huntress trainees helping the Wild Wall give birth to a baby girl in its natural habitat." a girl said while taking a video of the entire scene. " _Isn't nature simply beautiful!?_ "

"NORA!"

"Sorry, Ren!"

After a couple of minutes, Tiella was finally out of the wall. She slowly fell to Yang and the others with the help of Weiss's glyphs.

"Star?" Yang said, lightly slapping the girl awake in her arms. "Star!?"

Her eyes were spinning and she was foaming at the mouth, unconscious from her wild ride.

"W-What do we do? What do we do!?" Ruby asked while holding her head, panic only growing.

"J-Just calm down, okay? Panicking _won't_ help." Weiss said as she also felt her panic growing.

"Put her down so I can see her." Velvet said, her demure tone substituted with a gentle, commanding one.

"Okay," Yang said, easily obliging with Pyrrha helping her.

As soon as Tiella was on the floor, Velvet checked her vital signs for any abnormalities. Pyrrha, Yang, Weiss, and especially Ruby, watched and waited in anxiousness for the tall girl's condition.

After about a minute, Velvet sighed and looked to the worried girls with a gentle smile. "She's just unconscious. Her Aura cushioned most of the blow."

Suddenly, Tiella jerked awake, coughing harshly while trying to sit upright. She held her head and looked around her only to find the girls surrounding her, "What happened..?"

"What do you remember?" Velvet asked.

"I..." she tried to recall her last few seconds of being awake before eventually passing out, "...Little Rose!" she looked towards the small girl with a glare.

"Eep!" she flinched, terrified of the tall girl.

Tiella instantly sent Ruby flying and spinning into the air with an uppercut halfway across the arena where she skidded to a halt.

Everyone was surprised by the outburst, silently watching Ruby fly away.

" _THAT FUCKIN' HURT!_ " Tiella yelled.

"AH'M SHOWWY!" Ruby said in tears while holding her left cheek in pain, panic for Tiella exchanged for fear for her life.

Yang was about to confront Tiella but paused when she saw her smiling and heard her next words.

"GOOD JOB!" she yelled.

"What," Ruby yelled, dumbfounded.

Everyone was dumbfounded before they all sighed in relief as they had been expecting a beating to happen but instead saw Tiella giving Ruby a cheeky grin and a thumbs up. Yang snapped out of her surprise and started giggling.

Weiss heard her giggles and couldn't help herself from joining in as well. They were then shortly followed by Pyrrha and Velvet.

Yang's giggling slowly evolved into a burst of full-on jovial laughter that she had to double over—holding her stomach—while trying hard to breathe. Weiss was covering her mouth with both hands as she tried—in vain—to laugh loudly as well. Pyrrha and Velvet were caught in it, too, though they had better success than Weiss at trying not to laugh too hard.

Even Nora from outside the arena began laughing loud enough for them to hear, too.

"I... did good?" Ruby asked herself in confusion.

" _Hardly_ ," she said, making Ruby flinch. Depressed that she failed her new teacher on the first day.

"Calling it _'good'_ is an understatement, you know?" Tiella said while walking over to where Ruby laid.

"I didn't hurt you a lot, did I?" she asked in worry and confusion.

"Oh, I'm totally gonna feel that in the morning. But don't worry, I asked for it." she took a knee in front of Ruby and put a hand on her head while giving her a reassuring smile. "I should've seen it coming. I was underestimating you, Little Rose," she said while patting her gently.

Ruby's fears and worries were suddenly replaced with pride and joy as Tiella continually caressed her head.

"I can see why Ozpin let you in 2 years early now," she said in her casual smile before she leaned closer with a devilish grin. "I'm gonna have _so much fun_ training you," she said before maniacally laughing a low voice only Ruby and Velvet could hear.

 _"Please, don't be another Uncle Qrow."_ Ruby pleaded as she could not help but fear for her future under the Professional Bully's wing.

"Though..." her devilish smile slowly turned into an angry smile, "I know I told you to hit me with everything you had," she said while putting her knuckles on Ruby's temples, "but I never said anything about activating your Aura!" she then began grinding her temples as she continued berating her.

"Much less unleashing your ultimate move on me, Little Rose!"

"Eeeeeepp! I'm _sorryyy!_ " she cried both in fear and pain.

"Oh, dear." Velvet said in a wry smile while scratching her cheek with her finger. She noticed the first year girls look at her confusedly.

"It's nothing."

* * *

As soon as the crowd had dispersed and everyone's gone back to doing their thing in the gym, Tiella stood with Ruby in the arena once more.

"Okay, now that things have calmed down, we're gonna try something different." she said, " _Without_ Aura—as I should have said so before you gloriously implanted me into the wall," she said, earning snickers from the other girls.

"O-Okay," Ruby said nervously, her Aura already deactivated.

"Now, attack me as if you're using your scythe."

"Attack you like I'm using Crescent Rose..?"

"That's right."

"Uh..."

"Just imagine you're holding your Crescent Rose and start swinging at me."

"Okay..?" she drawled.

She closed her eyes and imagined herself holding Crescent Rose—concentrating on remembering the feel of her beloved weapon on her hands. She then began swinging her arms around as if she was spinning her scythe before she opened her eyes and charged at Tiella with a large swing.

Tiella calmly blocked Ruby's forearm with her own,

"Again."

So Ruby did as told and tried to swing once more, only to have her hand blocked again.

"Again."

So she swung,

"Again."

and swung,

"Again."

and swung,

"Again."

and continued swinging, not bothering to wait for Tiella to speak anymore.

She bent her body lower to the ground as she ran up to Tiella, going for a wide chopping motion from below. Tiella easily moved to the side, making Ruby miss and run past her. She turned around as soon as she could, using the momentum of her turn to go for a side chop at Tiella's midsection.

Tiella parried the move with her forearm again, so Ruby went for another chop using her other arm—which was easily parried just as before.

Weiss was watching in confusion as to what Tiella was going for. Yang, who was beside her on the other hand, was watching in mild astonishment.

"Yang," she finally asked, "what do you think Tiella's doing?"

"Dad and I tried to teach Ruby unarmed combat before," she said, crossing her arms, "but she just couldn't learn anything harder than the basics. So to compensate for it, she would just let herself fly in with her Semblance like a rocket. It wasn't the most efficient way to fight unarmed, but it worked against goons."

Weiss listened closely as she kept her eyes on Ruby who was still swinging her arms at Tiella who calmly blocked and parried everything she threw.

"But it looks like she already knows how to fight unarmed here," she said as she observed.

They weren't the wild swinging of a child trying to hit an adult who made them mad. It looked more like Ruby knew what she was doing, always aiming for something somewhere, despite Tiella's constant blocking and parrying.

"You're doing good, Little Rose! Keep at it!"

"Hiyaaaah!" she said, charging in once more after being parried away. At that point, Ruby's fighting style had undergone a slight change.

Instead of imagining herself holding Crescent Rose, she imagined her arms and hands _as_ Crescent Rose—chopping, swiping, and slicing at Tiella as she was getting caught in the heat of the moment.

"And it's exactly why I'm finding a hard time to believe it, Weiss." Yang continued as she watched Ruby fight in a manner she didn't know she could.

"Huh?"

"All we knew about Ruby's unarmed combat is that she can punch and kick like a complete amateur, until now," she said while watching her little sister intently.

They were both curiously watching their team leader charge at Tiella constantly when they heard Pyrrha join in on their conversation.

"If I had to guess..." she began, catching the two's attention while never really keeping their eyes off of Ruby. "I believe that Tiella is making Ruby fight as if she was wielding her weapon."

"You mean..." Weiss began, eyes slowly widening in realization.

"Ruby is using her armed fighting style..." Yang's eyes widened as well as she, too, slowly turned the gears in her head.

" _...in unarmed combat?_ " they finished in unison.

"Yes." Pyrrha nodded in agreement. "It seems to me as if Ruby's never let up on training with her weapon so much that even without it, she can fight as long as she remembers her training with it."

"Waaaaahh!"

Tiella threw Ruby into the air after she charged in once more before falling to her arms in a bridal carry.

"Good work, Little Rose," she said in a casual smile.

"I don't really see how I did good just now," Ruby said while crossing her arms and pouting. "I couldn't even land a hit!"

Tiella lowered Ruby gently and put her hand on her hip while the other pat Ruby on the head.

"Don't worry about, it Little Rose. The moment you land a good, clean hit on me is the day you graduate as my student."

"That's so far away then!" she whined.

"That'll depend on you," she said while making her way toward Weiss and Yang.

"Ruby!" Yang said while running over to lock Ruby in one of her bear hugs. "You were so amazing back there!"

"Eash, shtop," she said while buried in between Yang's Yangs.

"But Ruby! You were _fighting!_ " she said after letting go.

"Yeah, _hardly_. I couldn't even hit Tiella!" she whined once more before crossing her arms and pouting.

"Ruby," Weiss chimed, "you were _fighting_ ," she emphasized.

"I _know_ bu-" she paused, taking in the odd emphasis of her sister and her partner on the word. "Wait..." she looked down and held her chin in thought. "You mean, I wasn't just swinging wildly like before?" she said in disbelief.

"Yes, Ruby. You were using _actual_ moves." Yang said, giving her little sister a reassuring smile.

"But- How?" she asked in wonder, looking to the girl who somehow made it possible.

"Well, I've seen you swing that overgrown gardening tool in spars and couldn't help but be impressed myself, you know?" Tiella began,

"Hey!"

She wiggled her index finger in the air as she explained—ignoring Ruby, "So, when I heard that you suck at hand to hand, I thought, _'That can't be right...'_ and made me wonder what was up."

She looked back at the girls and saw that they were listening still, "So, I wanted to see how she would do for myself by asking her to hit me as hard as she could. I didn't think I'd be buried into a wall, but, yeah— _that_ happened."

The girls were chuckling again, save for Ruby who was trying to disappear under the hood of her cloak.

"Which made me think of a different approach," she said before pausing, letting the girls think for themselves.

"By asking her to pretend that she's wielding Crescent Rose?" Weiss asked.

"Bingo," she said, giving the girl a pat on the head, which caused her to pout and fix her bangs.

"But... how did you think that would work?" Ruby asked.

"Figuring that out will be your assignment." Tiella dismissed with a wave of her hand before looking at Weiss, "Because it's Ice Queen's turn now."

"I'd appreciate it if you stopped calling me Ice Queen, but, very well," Weiss said with an indignant huff while entering the arena.

"Good!" she said with a cheery smile. "Oh and, before I forget," she turned back to face Ruby and grabbed her forearms which caused her to flinch in pain.

"Ow!"

"put some ice on these later." she continued while gently rubbing Ruby's arms, "It should help stop the swelling later on." before letting go.

"Sparring with Aura is pretty painful," Ruby said while gently rubbing her forearms. She then let her eyes wander over the scars that were littered over Tiella's body and mentally gulped in apprehension. _"How come it looks like some of those didn't come from simple spars?"_

Tiella noted the look on Ruby's face as she eyed her scars before turning back to meet Weiss in the arena.

 _"I have a feeling they'll be asking about these sooner or later. Well, whatever... not like I try to hide 'em."_

* * *

 _Bonus Chapter_

 _..._

"And? Who started it _this_ time?"

Tiella was sitting on the ground—Indian style—with her arms crossed in front of her. Her white dress shirt was dirtied, bloodied, and tattered. She sported a number of bruises on her arms, torso, and face—even adorning a black eye. Her nose was still bleeding, and she just spat out blood from her mouth. She looked extremely furious, her teeth were clenched and she was avoiding eye contact with the one speaking and the one sitting next to her.

Next to Tiella was a boy with short and messy black hair and green eyes. He had a very muscular build but stood at least a head smaller than Tiella. He was in a far more battered state compared to her—adorning a larger number of bruises overall as well as a few cuts on his forearms. His top wasn't even there anymore, just bits and pieces of his black T-shirt still stuck to his black pants. And he, too, was looking the other way—avoiding eye contact with Tiella and the girl who was interrogating them.

"Not gonna _answer?_ "

The girl in question was standing in front of them, arms on her hips and foot tapping in impatience. She had blonde hair done in a low ponytail and blue eyes behind round-rimmed glasses. She stood a few centimeters shorter and wore a lab coat over a pink button-up blouse paired with a black pencil skirt. She also wore black stockings paired with black heels. She looked down on the two with a stern look on her face.

It was only morning—she hadn't even had the chance to drink her coffee and yet these two already managed to give her a huge headache to last her the rest of the day.

"Tielle?"

Tiella flinched, she knew something was coming so she braced herself for what she would hear next.

"I know where you hide your stash of milk bot-"

"It was Bardel!" she immediately said in a panic, finally facing the girl with anxious, wide eyes.

"You fucking bitch, that was you!" he turned, pointing at Tiella with a glare.

"What was that!?" Tiella leaned her head to Bardel, daring him to speak up.

"What, you wanna have another go!?" not one to back down from any challenges, he leaned in close, too.

"Think you can handle me just because you can land a few hits in now!?" she said while banging her chest with her hands a few times.

" _Enough!_ "

The girl yelled, causing both of them to flinch and stop their bickering instantly. She closed her eyes and massaged her temples in an attempt to calm down.

"If you two are just gonna keep smacking each other's asses like the fucking idiots you two are, then you won't be getting any healing from me! Go patch yourselves up in the infirmary!"

"But Kare-" Tiella tried to speak up.

"I already took your milk stash." she interrupted dryly.

Tiella gasped loudly. "You _didn't._ " she stood immediately, ignoring the pain from her various wounds and glared, daring her to lie to her face.

"They're being fed to the cats as we speak," she said matter-of-factly.

Tiella clung to Karen's shoulders tightly with tears in her eyes, "H-How could you..? Karen..? I trusted you..?" while Karen couldn't care less.

Bardel was chuckling at the expense of Tiella's misery which caught Karen's attention.

"The fuck are you laughing at, punk?" she said, sending Bardel a glare that caused him to stop immediately. "You're not getting any food for the rest of the day."

"But I haven't even eaten breakfast yet!" he said indignantly.

"I haven't either and here I am already tired of your bullshit! That goes for you, too, Tielle!"

"But that's..." he said mouth agape, unable to say another word.

"Noooooooo..." Tiella said weakly, falling to her knees, hanging her head low.

While Tiella and Bardel were wallowing in their misery caused by Karen's punishment, a voice called from behind.

"Karen, why don't you at least let them eat breakfast? We have to go scouting today and I can't really have them passing out deep in the forest."

A girl who was around the same height as Karen walked towards them. She had long black hair that fell down easily to the middle of her back and bright purple eyes. She had a build that struck a balance between Bardel's muscle mass and Tiella's lithe form. She wore a white sleeveless blouse with a short black necktie hanging loosely around her neck. For pants, she wore form-fitting black slacks and mid-calf level black leather boots.

Karen looked to the source of the voice and spoke tiredly, "I know, Lillianne... but if these two _fucking retards_ don't even know the definition of a _fucking spar_..." she said with a glare directed at the two.

The two retards in question only looked away, unwilling to take Karen's glare.

"Now, now. Your language is coming back. You're just hungry, we all are! It's only morning after all. Why don't we eat and decide on a proper punishment for them after?"

"They made another hole in the sparring grounds!" Karen said indignantly.

"So we'll have them fix it!" Lillianne said calmly while placing her hands together. "Right? _Guys?_ " she looked to the two with a smile, though her eyes were anything but cheery like her tone suggested.

"" _YES, MA'AM!_ ""

The two saluted at the same time, already understanding that they'd be getting a worse punishment from Lillianne if they don't do as told.

Needless to say, patching up the sparring grounds was only the first of their punishment.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I always questioned why they made Ruby suck at hand to hand when literally flying kicked one of Junior's goons out the window on the first episode. That should at least mean she knows SOME degree of basic training with unarmed combat, right?_

 _So this was my take on it as I tried to rationalize their decision to put emphasis on Ruby's lack of empty-handed martial arts skills when she's one hell of a beast with the scythe._

 _Reviews, please!_


	14. Chapter 14

_"It's so frustrating..."_

Weiss sat by one of the benches to rest after her spar with Tiella, alongside Ruby and Yang.

 _"I understand that it's largely because I had no Aura and she had hers up, but even after all the training I did just to get accepted into Beacon..."_

She drank from her bottled water before exhaling deeply.

 _"...and I don't doubt that even_ _ **with**_ _Aura I would not have landed a clean hit."_

She remembered her spar with Tiella from just a short while ago. The moments where she thought she would have gotten a clean hit in with her wooden sword. The time Tiella had her back to her. The time Tiella had both her arms raised high enough for her to aim at her midsection. The time she dodged a grab from Tiella by ducking and aiming for her legs.

All of those moments when she thought she had her, only to have her sword parried, dodged, sent flying, or even _stolen_ from her—just so Tiella could give her a reassuring smile before handing it over again, and again, and again.

Baited into what seemed like the most obvious traps looking back.

 _"I'm beginning to understand what Yang meant now. She does try to memorize our fighting style to formulate ways to counter us during the match itself, as insane as that sounds."_

She crumpled her water bottle after emptying it before throwing it hard at the trash bin.

 _"It's so frustrating that someone at least just a year older than me is standing at a height I can't even see. Perhaps even higher than Pyrrha... though, that's still up for debate."_

She slouched and clenched her fists as well as her teeth before relaxing with a deep sigh.

 _"However, for some reason, she's not being as harsh as I thought she would be. She was so supportive all throughout. So unlike all my previous tutors—unlike my_ _ **father**_ — _who would berate me for every single misstep."_

She straightened her sitting posture before rolling her shoulders to work out the kinks.

 _"Was it because she was only trying to evaluate us like she said since it's only the first day?"_

She gently placed her palms on her thighs and looked straight ahead with a hard look on her face.

 _"It doesn't matter. I will learn all that I can have her teach me. She may not understand it yet, but I believe that our fighting styles may not be as different as she originally stated."_

Ruby and Yang watched from beside Weiss the different expressions and actions she made, starting from the frustration, the likely resignation, and finally the hard look of determination on her face.

It warmed Ruby's heart. That her partner was taking their tutelage under Tiella so seriously just as she had expected she would. She always wanted to learn alongside a dear friend, too. Her training under a certain druncle was fun—and even hilarious at times—looking back, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't even a little bit lonely during some of it.

"Looks like you're having fun."

"Contrary to what it looked like, Yang, I actually did have fun despite how frustrating it felt."

"Now do you believe me when I said she was trying to memorize my fighting style?"

"Yes."

"How do you even beat that?"

The question caught Weiss off guard. She expected a sarcastic remark about not believing her, but there was instead a lull in her voice and expression. She's been thinking about it, too. But no matter how much time she spent making hypothetical strategies to bring Tiella down, she couldn't help but imagine her always losing in some way.

Ruby had a knowing look for her sister. She rarely saw Yang reveal her doubts and uncertainties outside of the family. So, she understood then that Tiella's presence might be more than just the cool older girl they all looked up to. It was definitely a feat to Ruby—seeing her normally confident and complacent sister begin questioning herself.

In a way, she liked it. That way they won't all be so complacent. She fully believed that Tiella's influence was a good wake up call from all the praises they keep on getting from teachers and students alike. She let it get to her head, too, but she was reminded that she's still just a first year. They all were.

"We'll just have to do our best, Yang," Ruby said, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder. "We'll all get better. The goal is for everyone to land a clean hit on Tiella before we graduate!"

Yang and Weiss smiled at their leader's statement.

"We're gonna need Blake to be here first before we could even try again," Yang said.

"Why stop there?" Weiss said with a determined smile on her face. "Why stop with just a clean hit?"

Ruby and Yang were mildly surprised by Weiss's sudden bout of motivation.

"When we can all aim to beat her ourselves?" she continued, "At least, as a team."

Yang sighed and Ruby wore a wry smile at Weiss's words.

"You know, Weiss, you really had me going at the 1st part until you lost confidence near the end of it."

"I-I'm just being realistic here! There's no way any of us can take her on alone and win even if we spend 4 years at Beacon. You saw her yourself, she continually tries to improve every day—as if she believes she has no ceiling."

"That just means we have a lot of catching up to do, Weiss!" Ruby said in her ever energetic smile.

"But Ruby-"

Ruby stood from the bench to stand in front of them both. She put her hands on her waist and stood proudly, "No buts, Weiss! We're gonna beat Tiella even if it takes us 10 years!"

"I should probably start joining you in the mornings just so I don't miss out on all these team bonding moments."

"Blake!"

Blake was leaning on the door frame of the locker rooms with her arms crossed.

"Was Blakey lonely in the dorm?" Yang teased.

"It was nice, actually. I managed to take a shower before any of you."

 _"And let my ears breathe for a while."_

Yang rolled her eyes at Blake and offered to let her sit beside her. Blake easily obliged and asked, "So, what did I miss?"

"Let's see..." Yang recounted the earlier happenings on her fingers one by one, "Ruby and Weiss nearly died trying to run a lap around the campus without their Aura, Ruby planted Tiella halfway into a wall with _the coolest move_ I've ever seen, Ruby realized she actually knows hand to hand, Weiss sparred with Tiella with no Aura and unsurprisingly lost, aaand then we talked about how we—as a team—should make it our goal to beat Tiella even if it takes us 10 years."

"That's..." Blake found herself dumbfounded. She couldn't believe she missed that much in under 2 hours after waking up.

"And then you joined." Yang finished with a grin.

"I really _should_ join you in the mornings."

"You gotta go through initiation first!" Yang grinned wider.

"What initiation?" Blake asked, noting the confused looks on Ruby and Weiss as well.

"You're the only one in our team that hasn't faced Tiella in a spar."

The rest of team RWBY easily connected the dots to what Yang was implying, which made Ruby and Weiss grin in the same manner as her.

"Now that you mention it..." Weiss gave Blake a look.

"...you're right, my dear big sister Yang." Ruby finished, giving Blake a look as well.

Blake backed away slowly from her seat, looking for a way out through the door. Already understanding her intentions, Yang stood to block the door before closing it shut. Then, in her best impersonation of a _commander tone_ , Ruby spoke.

"Weiss."

"Ma'am!" Weiss immediately stood from her seat and saluted.

From there, she held two fingers up, motioning them upwards while facing Blake. Not a moment later, she summoned multiple glyphs that caged her—preventing escape from all possible angles.

Continuing her commander tone, "Yang."

"Ma'am!" Yang saluted, playing along with a cheeky grin on her face.

She attempted to grab Blake from one of the holes provided by Weiss as soon as she got close, but Blake being Blake, she found it as the perfect opening to use her semblance to escape—leaving behind a copy of herself in the arms of Yang before disappearing into thin air.

"She's gone!"

"Looks like she went out the door."

"I guess we went a little overboard with that?"

 _"Not really, no."_ Blake thought as she leaned against the wall on the other side of the locker rooms.

 _"Playing along can be nice every once in a while."_

She smiled at the thought, it wasn't all the time that she'd be at the receiving end of a prank from her team.

 _"Even more surprising was that Weiss easily played along, too."_

She walked away from the locker rooms, making her way back to the dorms to grab one of her novels.

 _"Maybe it's because of Ruby and Yang, but I guess family doesn't hold that strong an influence after all."_

* * *

[So... yeah, sorry about the wall. Just cut the costs from my pay to have it fixed or something.]

"It's fine. I'll handle it."

[Glynda, I'm being serious. That was my fault, okay? You don't have to take responsibility for it. Also, don't get mad at the kids.]

"You said it was in one of the arenas at the gym, yes?"

[Yeah. Again, I'm really sorry about the wall.]

"As I said, it's fine. Breakfast is already served, so just come back as soon as you can. I'll be at the gym. I'll need to hear more about what happened later."

[Okay.]

Glynda disconnected from the call and placed her phone on the kitchen island. She finished making preparations for breakfast and was just waiting for Tiella to come back until the call came. She sighed and began eating as quick as she could.

She washed her plates after leaving Tiella's breakfast under a transparent plate cover on the table. Afterward, she changed into her work clothes and made her way for the gym.

 _"She's not here. Looks like we missed each other."_

She entered the arena and it didn't take her long to find the wall Tiella was talking about. She adjusted her glasses and brought out her riding crop with a flourish before pointing at the wall intently. Her riding crop glowed and the pieces of the wall that were littered around began floating before slowly re-positioning themselves back into the wall.

No longer than three seconds later, the wall was fully restored as if nothing had ever happened to it.

Satisfied with her work, she promptly went on to her next business, conducting today's Combat classes.

* * *

"So, Ruby and Weiss are training under Tiella now?" Jaune asked.

Team JNPR was in the cafeteria for their breakfast time. Nora and Jaune were having the Sloppy Tiella, though Jaune had much less spicy chili than usual while Nora had pancakes on the side. Pyrrha had the standard bacon, eggs, sausages, and pancakes while Ren had a bowl of rice and miso.

"Yes. From what I learned, Ruby is training to improve her hand to hand while Weiss would be brushing up on her basics." Pyrrha said after taking a bite.

"Why would Weiss wanna brush up on her basics?"

"Think of a building with a weak foundation, poor materials, and shoddy craftsmanship."

"Okay," he said, imagining the crude straw hut in his mind.

"It would end up flimsy and weak, making it easy to topple or collapse in on itself given enough time."

Jaune hummed in thought with the gears turning in his head, "So if I want to build a stronger house, I'd need a stronger foundation with better materials and craftsmanship."

"Exactly."

"And the same goes for training the body."

Pyrrha gave Jaune a nod and a smile—happy to note that Jaune was a quick learner. "If you'd like, we can start your training regime with that."

"Actually, Pyrrha... why don't we all do it?"

The statement caught Ren and Nora's attention from their own idle chatter—or more accurately, Nora's idle chatter.

"You mean... you want to join them?" Nora asked.

"No, we don't have to join them. We just need to make a training regime where we can all improve outside of what our classes already provide. And it won't just be Pyrrha doing all the teaching, we'll all learn from each other."

Jaune looked to Pyrrha as he continued, "I can learn swordplay from Pyrrha,"

to Nora, "strength training from Nora,"

and finally to Ren, "and Aura control from Ren."

He then gestured to himself, "And I can try learning more about strategies so I can teach them all to you guys!" before gesturing to his team.

His three teammates all looked to each other, considering his words carefully. Jaune's confident smile faltered a little, "Or... not?" so they all looked to him again. They all looked at each other once more before smiling wryly at their leader's lack of confidence. They nodded to each other, somehow wordlessly agreeing to fix Jaune's self-esteem issues one way or another.

They figured that now's a better time than any to begin.

"Jaune, I think that's a wonderful idea." Pyrrha praised, "If done correctly, we'll become an even more well-rounded team that can function better than ever."

"Yeah! Maybe I can learn the whole _'boom'_ thing that Ren does with his hands like what he did to that Taijitu's head back at initiation!"

"And I do feel that I need more training with regards to my physical strength and stamina."

"So, we're all on board?" he asked, visibly happy with his team's unanimous agreement.

They all smiled at him and nodded their heads resolutely.

"So... just for reference," Jaune began unsurely.

"Yes?"

"how exactly does Team RWBY train?"

Pyrrha thought back to her prior conversations with Tiella and Team RWBY with a hand on her chin. "I believe that they all adopted a part of Tiella's personal training regime that involves doing everything without Aura."

" _Without_ Aura?" Jaune asked incredulously. It was a little more extreme than he originally thought it'd be. Even the rest of Team JNPR had questioning looks as well.

He worked the gears in his head once more, putting together what he learned from Pyrrha about everything they've been talking about so far. How did a lack of Aura while training hand-to-hand and brushing up on basics contribute to an overall stronger foundation?

"Of course..." Jaune said in a low, fascinated whisper—his voice growing louder and louder as he went on, "the reason Tiella fights the way she does is because even without Aura, she can fight well enough to more than just defend herself!"

His words caught his team's attention which made them think back to Tiella's matches back in Combat class.

"I mean, think about it! We all have pretty decent builds that fit the image of fighters at a warrior school, but Tiella's build looks a little too different—a little more extreme compared to even the best of us. Like she was bred for war."

"She does have a more toned body even comparing to a lot of the seniors here..." Pyrrha commented.

 _"...also, bred for war?"_

She remembered the rather grim words whispered to her by her self-proclaimed sister right after their first spar.

 _"'I only take them out when I kill. For both our sakes, I hope you don't give me a reason to', was it..?"_

"And her all muscles pop up and look kinda veiny when she flexes them," Nora added.

"Even when she's relaxed, you can clearly see how well toned her forearms are," Ren added.

Jaune saw the brooding look on his partner's expression and couldn't help but worry. "Pyrrha? Is something wrong?"

"Oh," Pyrrha said, shaking from her slowly darkening thoughts, "it's nothing. I was just reminded of something a while back."

 _"I shouldn't jump to conclusions, Tiella has been nothing but a good friend and senior to all of us. I'm sure she has her own secrets. Whether we'll know about them is entirely up to her."_

"Well, you can talk to me about anything any time, partner."

"Thank you, Jaune," she said with a grateful smile. "I think it would be better to continue discussing later if we don't want to be late for class."

* * *

Shortly after breakfast, RWBY and JNPR attended their first class for the day.

During Grimm Studies, Jaune noticed the lack of Tiella. Curious as to where she might be, he asked the person next to him.

"Hey, Ruby," Jaune whispered.

"What's up?" she whispered as well while not looking away from Port.

"Where do you think Tiella is?"

"I'm not really sure. Probably just following a different schedule today."

Jaune hummed in acknowledgment, he'd slowly gotten used to her presence in the class so it was a little weird not seeing her there. Even during their next classes, Tiella wasn't present as well. It wasn't until lunchtime did they hear about her through someone else.

Jaune was checking his social media on his scroll right after finishing his lunch. While browsing through, he received a notification from one of the group chats for Beacon Academy students to share information with. Curious about the notification, he immediately checked on it to find a video uploaded by one of the 4th years with a caption that said [PROFESSIONAL BULLY AT IT AGAIN! COCKY 3RD SEAT GETS BTFO].

Jaune raised an even more curious brow after reading the caption and quickly checked what the video was about.

 _[OOOOHHHHH!]_

The loud voices from Jaune's scroll caught the attention of his friends, so they leaned close and began asking questions.

"What'chu watching, Jaune?" Yang asked curiously.

"You can't just watch porn out in public, Jaune. You need to do that while you're alone in the dorm like you always do!" Nora added.

"A 10-second video..." he responded offhandedly as most of his attention was on his scroll.

Pyrrha peeked beside Jaune to see what he was so engrossed about but only caught the end of it. And from what she could make out, it was a view from the Combat class's seats focusing on a girl who had a very familiar head of red hair in loose twin braids. Said girl was stepping on the head of her opponent before the video ended.

"Was that Tiella?" she asked, though she was already sure of it herself.

"I think so."

"What was it about, exactly? I only saw the end of it."

"She pulverized someone with a crazy amount of punches," he said in mild shock as he replayed the video again to show to Pyrrha.

Everyone leaned over with varying looks of curiosity to get a better look at Jaune's scroll, so he just held it up in front of him for everyone at the table to see.

The video showed Tiella standing in the middle of the arena with her arms raised to guard while her opponent was charging at her with his gun-spear that was aiming for her head.

She easily tilted her head to the right and caught the shaft of the spear with both hands before quickly spinning in place to twist the spear off the boy's hand. Continuing her spin, she threw the spear far behind her where she buried it on the wall deeply—still spinning on the way to face her opponent.

The boy was stunned for a bit as he hadn't expected to be so easily disarmed so he could not react to the blow on his midsection that carried the momentum of her spin.

He doubled over, clutching his flank with his left hand, before receiving an uppercut on his jaw that nearly sent him bending backward but was stopped by a right hook to his left cheek.

Tiella continued her series of punches—aiming for his right eye, left temple, right flank, left cheek once more, right cheek, abdomen, and so on. She raised her speed for every punch that hit, becoming faster and faster until her arms were blurry from the video—all the while making sickening sounds of her fist colliding with her opponent's various body parts.

 _[OOOOHHHHH!]_

The crowd went wild as they watched her arms almost disappear from sheer speed before she grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled her left arm back for a big wind up.

"Uh oh," Yang said offhandedly, remembering the time she got punched to the floor in the free for all.

Not even a second later, there was a loud thud. The boy was sent down crashing by a punch to the middle of his chest, creating a large crack on the floor where he laid surprisingly still conscious. He tried to stand back up but she stepped on his head harshly, creating an even deeper, larger crack on the arena's floor before the video cut to an end.

"Is it just me, or did it look like she was mad?" Ruby asked.

"It did look like she went a little overboard with it," Blake commented offhandedly.

"That's Leon Springfield..." Weiss said in mild fascination.

"Who?" Yang asked.

"He's a 4th year—Beacon's number 3."

" _That's_ Beacon's 3rd ranking student?" Jaune asked incredulously.

"Leon Springfield, a.k.a. The Lion's Spear of Beacon, is the leader of Team LRRD (Lord)." Weiss began, "He's _notorious_ for never bowing down to anyone except for the Headmaster and Professor Goodwitch, is known to pick fights with everyone that catches his eye, and always fighting for the top spot with Ranks 1 and 2. There are even rumors that he once picked a fight with Professor Goodwitch as a first year, and maybe even the Headmaster himself."

"And she wiped the floor with him..." Jaune commented.

" _Destroyed_ the floor with him, you mean," Nora added.

"Do you guys think that's how she's like without holding back?" Ruby asked.

Everyone at the table thought the question over in silence.

"I'm not sure... but even if it is, you sure put a really high goal for us, Ruby," Yang said with a grin.

"Well..." she said, rubbing the back of her neck. She was almost second questioning her decision to make it their goal to defeat Tiella before giving her team a reassuring smile. "Like I said! We just have a lot of catching up to do!"

Her team responded with resolute smiles of their own.

* * *

"Hey, Velvs."

"Yes, Coco?"

Team CFVY was on their way in the halls to their next class while Coco checked on her scroll as they walked.

"Your dreamboat did something again," she said teasingly.

"D-Dreamboat?" unsure of what her partner meant.

"Chelly."

"Coco!" she said indignantly.

"Check this out."

They all went to the side of the hall so as to not block the way and watched the 10-second clip uploaded by one of their seniors.

"I almost feel bad for him, especially when she stepped on his head," Coco said offhandedly.

"Almost?"

"He's infamous for picking fights left and right. He even challenged some of the professors before."

"Oh. Tiella looked like she was mad, though."

"You can tell?"

"Her style is rough as you can see, but she's usually relaxed with her movements as I've seen from her spars—so, seeing her beat someone so hard like that to the ground is definitely new," she said worriedly. She wondered what could have irked her so much.

"Sounds like you're worried about your dreamboat."

"Coco, please!" she whined, "I just admire the way she works hard to improve..."

Coco gave her a teasing smile, clearly not believing her words—at least, not fully.

"And, yes. I'm just wondering what made her react that way."

They watched the video again while thinking of possible ways to irk the girl so much.

"I'm betting it's her hair," Coco said.

"Her hair?"

"He probably dissed her hair."

"That..." she considered, holding a hand to her chin, "actually sounds likely."

"She doesn't take kindly to people insulting her hair?" Fox asked curiously.

"Back when we were out shopping with her," Coco recalled, "she said something about sentimental value with that particular hairstyle. If you wanna know more, you're gonna have to ask the girl herself since it's a pretty sensitive topic for her."

* * *

 _A few minutes ago..._

 _"She's truly an unbelievable fighter."_

Glynda thought as she officiated the match between Leon and Tiella.

She sighed, _"At least she didn't go breaking someone's Aura again."_

"And that's the match! The winner is Celestiella Margory."

Their Aura levels above the arena showed Tiella at 31% and Leon at 8%, resulting in Leon's obvious loss.

The fight was mostly even in the first quarter of the match until Leon used his Semblance—which was to generate lightning and coat himself in it to give him a great boost in speed and power.

Tiella had a hard time fighting back as she was constantly pushed back by a torrent of blows from his gun-spear in both long and mid-range. Not to mention every blow caused her to flinch uncontrollably due to his lightning-imbued attacks. She couldn't even parry, much less get close.

It was clear to everyone that Leon's victory was imminent as they all watched Tiella's Aura level steadily go down from the 80% mark to the 35% mark in one long combo.

It wasn't until after she was sent flying did she make her comeback. She unsteadily stood from where she fell, intently observing her opponent's movements. When he shot with his gun, she minimally dodged with a small sidestep—into the direction of where Leon's spear was coming from to smash her hard from the side.

She felt the lightning on her skin once more, causing her to flinch uncontrollably—only that time, she followed the flinching movement willingly and used the sudden burst of energy and movement to guide her body to dodge and counter.

When she felt her arm twitch from the incoming spear, she took it as a telephone punch that announced Leon's intent to her so loudly. So she let her forearm shake from the electricity and used the twitching motion to parry the spear with her backhand before going for a spinning high kick at Leon's head.

The kick caught Leon off guard though he still managed to dodge at the last second. She suddenly moved in an unpredictable manner he couldn't understand. So he played safe once again, staying at his maximum range to keep himself at an advantage.

What he didn't expect she'd do was charge at him herself—causing him to think whether the girl was brave or actually stupid. So, he aimed for a low swipe. She responded with another unpredictable shaking before kicking his spear down on the ground, pinning it under her boot.

Tiella capitalized on this by running up on the spear and kneeing him in the face followed by a sharp ax kick to his head using the same leg she kneed him with. He felt dizzy from the kick, so his first instinct was to tightly hold on to his spear before jumping far back.

When he landed and steadied himself, he saw Tiella in the middle of the arena with her eyes closed—smiling and waving at him tauntingly with her hand. Gravely insulted that she would take him as a joke, he charged once more aiming to thrust at her head.

And that was when the video began. With closed eyes—Tiella tilted her head to the right as soon as she felt the electricity crawling on her hair and skin before opening them again and grabbing the spear to disarm him, and throwing it away before pummeling him hard to the ground leading to her win.

While Tiella was mercilessly stepping on Leon's head, she leaned low to give him a glare. Her next whispered words carried a venomous hatred that chilled Leon to the bones.

"Insult my mother again and I'm going to fucking kill you in front of yours."

She backed off as soon as she noticed Glynda walking close. She gave Glynda a nonchalant look before walking into the lockers,

"Next time you ask for a fight, make sure you do it courteously," she said as she walked away. "Or else this kinda thing happens."

Glynda wondered at the words Tiella left behind with a raised eyebrow before urging the still dazed Leon to stand up and head for the locker rooms himself so she could begin the next match.

She recognized that look. It was the same one she was trying to ignore when Tiella learned that she was stuck in a new world.

* * *

At the same time in downtown Vale, a rugged middle-aged man was having a drink at a small bar. He was looking at his scroll showing a picture of an angry-looking red-haired girl in twin braids with a message attached below.

 _[We have a new member of our circle that joined very recently. However, do understand that this meeting is more than just for you to get acquainted with her. Return as soon as you can.]_

He sighed before pocketing his scroll. He wasn't really excited about having a new member—much less someone that looked the same age as his eldest niece. There's the issue of her area of expertise, too. Though that can be easily solved by going to the meeting.

 _"Just when I was finally on a trail on Amber's attackers, I get this."_

He was slowly shaking his glass, absentmindedly watching the liquor whirl within before taking another sip. He leisurely drank his glass, occasionally clinking the ice inside.

"Was that your daughter, sir?" The bartender asked while wiping some of the empty glasses clean.

He scoffed, "Never had one."

"A niece, then?"

"Could put it that way," he said, looking back on his then empty glass. He wasn't really up to talking with the bartender like he usually would love to do. "Here," placing the glass back on the table. "and here." leaving money to pay for his drinks.

The bartender graciously accepted the glass and the Lien, "Thank you, sir. Come back again."

The man walked away while waving his hand, not bothering to look back.

 _"Probably time to meet the new girl."_

* * *

 _Bonus Chapter_

...

At the early hours within the city of Vale, Glynda Goodwitch waited for the bus to arrive at the bus stop to head to work in her business clothes like she always did. She would enter the bus as scheduled and pick a random seat.

She was bored with the monotony of her daily life—waking up, going to work, heading home to sleep... rinse and repeat. So, it surprised her when she noticed a few passengers on the bus would sometimes stare at her. It's true that she tended to catch someone's attention with how tall she was for a woman, so she didn't mind at first, however, she'd sometimes catch people staring or peeking at her discreetly.

Sometimes through the reflection of the window pane, sometimes by the edge of her sight. There was always the nagging feeling that someone was watching her, so as a result, she tried to understand why.

She would enter the bus as scheduled and pick a random seat. This time, however, she would be the one doing the observing instead. She would look around from time to time, taking in what's in front of her as a whole instead of focusing on one person to the other so as to keep it natural and avoid tunnel vision. She would sometimes glance at her wristwatch and take out her smartphone before going back to observing her surroundings once more, glancing from one part of the bus to another—particularly areas where she felt glances were coming from.

After a few days, she realized that they were staring not just simply because her height caught their attention, but likely because they find her attractive—as narcissistic as that sounded even to her.

She found it flattering, her height was a cause for intimidation among men and women alike, so she found it a little difficult to find possible suitors who wouldn't be scared of her at first sight. Along with her sharp gaze and immaculate way of dressing up—she was the very picture of a Ms. Independent that had no time for nonsense.

And for the most part, it was true, she _did_ have no time for nonsense. She preferred to keep things professional and only interact with people she had business with to a minimum. Every party she went to was simply because her boss had invited her to them. And seeing as she held a fairly high position in the company she worked for, it would be rather rude of her to not attend even if it's just for the sake of it.

She had friends, of course, though even they had their own personal lives to worry about—so, she understood that they wouldn't be able to meet as they wanted unlike in high school or college.

And upon realization of the fact that people _did_ find her attractive—men and women alike—she chose to make a little game from it. She would wait at the bus stop as always and enter as per the scheduled arrival. However, instead of picking a random seat, she would pick a vacant seat next to someone instead.

The game starts as soon as she's taken her seat and it would be followed by the person next to her looking at her once. She would consider it a win for her if her target would try to look at her again for the duration of her commute to work.

It was a simple, harmless game. She would take a seat next to a random stranger and wait for that person to look at her twice. She found it amusing when someone gets distracted from their phone or a book when someone gives her a once-over when they believe she wasn't looking and would try to look at her again after a while.

She kept playing the game for the next few weeks, feeling quite flattered and sometimes even intoxicated whenever she won. So after a while, she tried to spice things up by choosing someone based on whether she felt they would be harder to distract or not—and today wasn't any different.

She glanced at the person at the front seats who was on his earphones while looking outside absentmindedly, _"I've sat next to him during one or two rides on the bus a few times already. So, I think it would be rather strange to see the same lady sitting next to him even if it should only be a coincidence."_

She saw a teenager playing a game on his smartphone, _"Hmm... he seems too easy. I'd usually get a double take from kids like him in a matter of seconds._

 _Him, too._

 _Or him."_

She sighed, _"It looks like no one's fun today."_

She chose to stand by the aisle while holding on to one of the handles and looked outside absentmindedly until the bus took in a new passenger at a different bus stop. She looked at the new passenger and was a little surprised to see a girl with bright red hair in loose twin braids, smart casual clothing, and stood as tall as her—likely taller, even—enter the bus and pick a seat near the end right next to a window.

 _"I suppose I don't always take women as targets."_

She mulled things over for a bit before choosing to take a seat next to the tall girl. She saw that the girl was looking out the window, so she waited patiently for her to eventually look her way, much like they always do.

 _"It's only a matter of time."_ she thought smugly.

However, up until reaching her stop, the girl never once looked her way.

She kept her gaze right out the window, absentmindedly watching the scenery as the bus drove by, never paying her any attention.

At work, the girl that ignored her kept occupying her mind, which didn't go unnoticed by a few of her subordinates and co-workers.

 _"Let's try that again."_ she thought, determined to make the girl look at her should she see her once more.

As the next day came, she got on the bus and saw the same girl enter again from her stop. She watched as the girl took another seat by the window near the end of the bus, so she sat next to her once more after waiting a few minutes.

And the result was the same.

She couldn't understand it.

Was she not eye-catching enough for her?

Was it because the girl was taller than her so she couldn't care less?

The lack of a reaction irked her for reasons unknown. It was just a game, after all. There's no reason for her to be so hung up about it. She could easily let it go and look for another target.

Unless she was still a sore loser much like back in high school.

 _"I WILL make her look at me."_ she thought as she glared at her paperwork, once again catching the attention of her co-workers and subordinates.

The next morning, she wore a slightly more flashy pair of earrings and a slightly stronger cologne before heading for her bus stop.

But despite her efforts, she was still ignored.

She sighed, _"What am I doing..? Why didn't I just realize that she's not into women? It's only natural that some people would ignore me."_

Her glum atmosphere once again caught the attention of the people at her workplace.

The following day, she excused herself for the first few hours of her shift and donned a disguise.

She changed her hairstyle by letting her hair down and wore shades as well as a long brown coat over her business clothes.

 _"I WILL figure you out!"_

So, she got on the bus and waited in anticipation for the girl to appear. Though this time, the bus moved on without her ever getting on.

She immediately wondered why and looked out the window. There she saw the same girl wearing a black leather jacket and a helmet with a transparent eye shield riding a Motorrad in the same direction her route usually took.

 _"Oh... she didn't get on._

 _Of course, she won't._

 _I likely put her off..._

 _Who wouldn't be freaked out by the same old lady sitting next to you for three times in a row?_

 _Even I would find that creepy."_

She let out a long and heavy sigh while filing her paperwork, once again catching the attention of her co-workers.

"You seem a little down today, ma'am."

Glynda was surprised by the sudden voice talking to her, so she looked up from her desk to see her assistant Velvet.

"Do I?"

"Yes, ma'am. We noticed that you looked like you've been having fun lately, and it's quite refreshing to see, ma'am. It definitely helped in relieving a bit of the tension in the teams to see our boss look so happy."

Glynda considered her words carefully.

 _"I hadn't even noticed."_

The following day, she got on the bus and sat next to a window near the end. She absentmindedly watched the scenery flow by as the bus drove to the next bus stop until she noticed the same tall girl get on the bus and sat next to her from the reflection of the window pane.

She dazedly stared at the girl's reflection for a moment before coming to a wide-eyed realization.

 _"Don't tell me, she..."_

She looked back at the tall girl in shock and confusion only to meet a smug smile.

She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words as she was left dumbfounded.

"Have you always..?" she said while pointing at the window pane next to her.

The girl grinned even wider, "Yep."

Her eyes went wider and her brows shot up further, a small blush forming on her face in embarrassment.

"B-But... you weren't here yesterday."

"Were you here? Guess, I didn't see you." she said, "I always take my baby to go to university. I only take the bus when you're in it."

Glynda's brow scrunched in confusion, "Does that mean, you know..?" she continued in her thoughts, _"...about my little game?"_

"Yep. Since the time I saw you _"randomly"_ choosing empty spots next to strangers." she said with air quotation marks for emphasis.

" _Oh my gosh..._ " she said, hunching over to hide her face in her hands, face turning an even deeper shade of red.

"Hey, look at me." the tall girl said teasingly.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Sorry about the long wait, I was trying to catch up on my backlog for stuff to read and I sort of wanted to prepare for a Valentine's Day special even if it's a day late._

 _So here you go! I hope you liked it._

 _I'll be the first to admit that the idea for the bonus chapter is not from me. I read it from somewhere and couldn't help but feel that it was way too cute and wanted to fit it with Glynda and Tiella's dynamic._

 _Points to you for recognizing where I got the idea for Bonus chapter's story! Do let me know in the reviews if you do._

 _If you don't know, well..._

 _I'll still say it anyway because plagiarizing is a no-no._

 _Thanks again for reading another chapter of Lost Star._

 _Reviews, please!_


	15. Chapter 15

"Tiella."

Tiella was in the middle of changing into her casual clothes—a plain white 3/4 sleeved dress shirt, form-fitting black slacks, and her combat boots. She casually looked over her shoulder to side glance at Glynda who was standing by the door of the locker room.

"Qrow has arrived. We'll be meeting with him in Ozpin's office during lunch."

She turned her attention back to her clothes, buttoning up slowly before giving a slight nod of her head.

For a few scant seconds, there was a silence between them before Glynda spoke again.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Was." she replied curtly, "It's taken care of."

"I see. May I know what it was about?" she asked hesitantly.

Tiella remained silent, focusing on doing a loose necktie that framed the two opened buttons of her shirt before moving on to lazily wearing her gloves. Glynda waited patiently all the while.

"Someone insulted my mother because he wanted a serious match with me," she said while pulling on her glove tightly. "I tried to oblige."

She then began splitting her hair down the middle before braiding one side first. Glynda remained silent, unsure of what to say.

"You know, Glynda... it was pretty hard for me to give him what he wanted when I know you would've stopped me if I did what he asked," she said, her monotone voice a sharp contrast to what she meant by her words.

She thought over Tiella's words as she watched her braid the other half of her hair before speaking again, noting the grim undertone of the girl whose back was turned to her.

"I'm grateful that you showed restraint."

"Try to teach your students better manners next time. Because there won't be one if he does it again."

"I'll handle his punishment later on."

Tiella finished her braids before facing Glynda with her casual smile. "Will we have time to eat after the meeting? Because I'm _starving_." she exaggerated.

Glynda adjusted her glasses, already understanding the meaning behind a lot of Tiella's casual smiles after seeing it so many times. "Yes, we'll be having lunch during the meeting."

"Can I make an order or is it already set?" she asked while walking over to Glynda.

They headed towards the elevator as they continued their small talk. As soon as they got off the elevator at the top of the grand clock tower, Glynda stopped Tiella for a moment.

"What's up?"

"I wanted to let you know beforehand that we may have to talk about your Skill as well, to make Qrow and the General believe that you're an otherworlder."

She sighed, not bothering to hide her annoyance while looking toward the Headmaster's Office. "Fine."

"Let's go, then," she said, leading the short walk into Ozpin's office.

Tiella easily followed suit, "Do I get to chuck them in the face with my knife if they don't believe me?"

"No."

"Can I chuck them anywhere at all?"

"No."

"Even for just a pinprick?"

Glynda opened the door without answering and the first thing that greeted her was the sight of Ozpin looking out the window with Qrow sitting on one of the chairs, in the middle of another drink from his flask. She closed her eyes and took a silent, deep breath before sighing it out and stepping inside, holding the door open for Tiella.

"Good afternoon, Professor Ozpin, Qrow." she said, nodding to them, "I've brought Tiella with me."

"Good afternoon, Glynda. We're still waiting for the General, so do take a seat while we wait."

Tiella stepped in and stared at Qrow who was still drinking from his flask.

"I wish you told me we could drink alcohol here." she said while giving Glynda an unamused look, "I wouldn't have asked for so much milk if I knew."

"That's because we don't." she said while pinching the bridge of her nose, "He's just an incurable alcoholic."

Qrow finally corked his flask and put it back in his hidden chest pocket before lazily looking Tiella in the eye with an annoyed expression. Tiella met the expression with a barely hidden annoyance of her own.

"The name's Qrow," he said, not bothering to stand up.

"Tiella," she said curtly while moving to a vacant chair.

"So, Oz..." he began, "what made you recruit a kid?" disdain barely hidden.

"He's probably tired of your smelly old ass," she said with an equal amount of disdain.

"Shush kid, the adults are talking."

Tiella did a spit take, unable to fully stop herself from laughing at his statement.

He glared at her for a moment before speaking again, "Can we even trust this kid? And is she even any good? She looks barely older than my nieces."

Before Tiella could speak again, Ozpin answered, "We'll be discussing this further as soon as the General's arrived."

Qrow crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, begrudgingly accepting Ozpin's answer. Tiella crossed her arms as well and looked at the table where a good number of plates filled with different types of sandwiches were already served. She took one and began eating on her own.

"I suppose," Ozpin said, "if I must say anything about her trustworthiness..."

Qrow and Tiella looked back to Ozpin, waiting for him to finish.

"...I believe that Glynda's taken quite a bit of a liking to her. So much so that I've seen them exchange in banter these past few days. Almost lovingly, at that." he said teasingly.

Qrow's eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened at Ozpin's statement before he looked to Glynda who stopped mid-sip from her teacup looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Take that as you will." Ozpin finished, looking out the window with a small smile on his face.

Glynda sighed before placing her teacup on the table with a soft clink, "Ozpin..."

"Well, well, well!" Qrow interrupted whatever Glynda was about to say before turning back to Tiella. "Kid," he said with a big grin, "I'm sorry I ever doubted ya. Welcome aboard." he offered a hand over the table, as both an apology and act of hospitality.

Tiella as dumbfounded for a bit, looking between Qrow, Ozpin, and Glynda, before reaching over to shake on it. "None taken?"

Glynda sighed again, rubbing her temple to try and calm down.

"Glynda, my dear," Qrow said with a grin on his face.

"No."

"I never thought I'd see the day."

"Please, be quiet."

"One moment you're colder than Atlas's biggest icebergs put together."

"Just go back to quietly drinking, please."

"The next, I hear from Ozpin himself that you're spending quality time with the new kid while I was away."

"I blame _you_ for this, Ozpin."

"Kid," he said, turning to Tiella, " _how_ did you do it?" genuinely curious.

"I cried in her arms and triggered her maternal instincts," she said flatly.

Glynda responded with a deep and heavy sigh instead, unable to say any more than could possibly stop the conversation from going any further.

"Now, _that_ sounds like a story," he said, pulling out his liquor flask and pouring over two empty glasses before offering one to Tiella.

"Thanks." She accepted, easily understanding that Qrow had time to listen to a story. She whirled the liquor inside the glass before taking a small sip, _"Bourbon?"_ before putting it back on the table.

"She was never gonna let me live it down, anyway. Might as well own it," she said while sending Glynda a wry smile. Glynda only crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at her before sipping her tea.

"Basically..." she began.

* * *

"And that's how I got the Headmaster to make me a glass of milk," she said smugly.

Qrow was cackling from his seat by the end of it, tapping his knee multiple times while slouching toward the table. Glynda had long since tuned them out, focusing intently on her cup(s) of tea. Ozpin was seated on his chair with a wry smile on his face as he listened.

It had been a couple of minutes since Tiella began her story, and yet there was still no sign of the General.

"So, Oz." Qrow said, "What's taking Jimmy so long?"

"He's a very busy man, I'm sure he's still occupied at the moment." he glanced at the clock before speaking again. "If he still does not appear in 5 minutes, we'll simply have to start without him."

"Alright," he said, leaning back on his chair with a sandwich in his mouth.

"So, Qrow," Tiella said.

"Yeah?" swallowing a bite.

"What made you teach Ruby the scythe?"

"You've met my niece?"

"Yeah."

He hummed in acknowledgment, "Ruby was pretty much garbage whenever she tried to pick up a weapon."

"Harsh," she said with a wry grin.

"It's true, though. So, I was actually against teaching her anything. Especially the scythe." he leaned over and began reminiscing his days of training Ruby. "But she was just so damn adamant about being a huntress. Just like her mom."

Tiella hummed in thought, remembering her very brief talk with the two sisters' mother. "Doesn't sound like it's a story you can finish in 5 minutes."

"Nope," he said, leaning back on his chair before downing his flask another time.

"Maybe you can tell me some other time." she said with a grin, "Drink's on me. Just tell me where to get our poison."

"Glynda?" he said with a grin, "Mind if I take her out for a drink or two?"

"I don't understand why you're asking me, you're both of age."

"I'm just asking permission before I borrow your girl for a bit."

"You know, I actually like the sound of that," Tiella commented while sipping on her glass of Bourbon.

Glynda sighed again. "I don't particularly care as long as you don't make a mess of yourselves when you come home."

"You mean you two live together?" he asked in surprise, "You're practically married!"

Ozpin cleared his throat to get their attention, "Ladies, gentleman." he said while looking to his subordinates. "I believe we no longer have the time to wait for the General."

The trio let go of the casual atmosphere and attentively listened to Ozpin. "So, why don't we begin? Let's start with the part that is the hardest to explain." he finished while giving Tiella a knowing look.

She sighed before flatly saying, "Long story short, I messed up one of Ozpin's trump cards and got mistaken as an enemy, and I think a Maiden?" she said, looking to Ozpin who gave her a nod. "Right, a Maiden, until we all realized that I'm an otherworlder to you guys."

Everyone was silent for a moment, Qrow giving Tiella a blank stare.

"That doesn't explain jack."

"This is gonna be a pain in the ass..."

"Just give me the long story long. What do you mean by _otherworlder?_ "

It was there that Glynda chimed in, unable to bear Tiella's inability to explain things clearly.

"5 days ago, I was making a report to Ozpin when the elevator leading down to Amber and the relic opened to reveal her inside it," she said, pointing to Tiella. "We had a confrontation, I assumed she was an enemy sent by _her_."

"You threatened to send me out this fuckin' tower through the window and squeezed me like a fuckin' lemon."

"We went down to investigate" Glynda continued, ignoring Tiella's complaint. "and found that the gate leading to the relic may have been tampered with, which lead me to further believe that she may indeed be an enemy."

"But Ozpin over there thought I may be one of those _Maidens_."

"That's because only Maidens have the ability to tamper with the gates."

"Coulda told me that sooner," she said with a pout.

"Which made Ozpin believe that she is not an enemy." she continued, adjusting her glasses. "Soon afterward, we exchanged information and through this exchange, we determined that Tiella is indeed from another world."

Qrow thought things over with pursed lips before speaking again. "That makes things clearer but I still don't understand how that happened."

"Ever seen this before?" Tiella said before Glynda could begin explaining once more. She held up her lucky coin in front of her before tossing it to Qrow who deftly caught it with one hand.

"A coin?" he said, scrutinizing the coin carefully on all sides.

The coin had the image of a man with long, curled hair looking to the left at the front with the words 'LIBERTY', 'IN GOD WE TRUST', and '1993'. On the other side, there was the emblem of a bird with the words 'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA', 'E PLURIBUS', 'UNUM', and 'QUARTER DOLLAR'.

"No.," he said, tossing to coin back to Tiella. "I've never heard of a 'United States of... whatever', nor have I seen people even use coins anymore."

"Believe me yet?"

"Almost there," he admitted. It was hard to believe, but it didn't look like Ozpin and Glynda are playing along for the most elaborate prank. "Got anything else?"

Tiella sighed before pouting. She then looked to Glynda, unsure of what else to use as immediate proof.

"These are her papers," Ozpin said, sliding over a folder on his desk toward Qrow for him to pick up. "Papers I forged to make it so that she's been a resident of Remnant ever since."

Qrow took the papers and skimmed through it, noting the vague wording and complete lack of personal information other than her name and age, among other things.

"In those papers, she's an Atlesian who grew up in the more dangerous parts of Atlas—learning to become a mercenary along the way." Ozpin continued.

"She's also the daughter of your distant relative." Qrow read aloud. "And she's here because she wanted to find work in Vale."

"I didn't know you were my uncle!" Tiella said, fully sarcastic. "Where've you been all my life, Uncle Oz?"

"Try not to act too familiar with the Headmaster, please."

"Don't be jealous, Glynda. I'm all yours, you just have to say the magic words." she teased with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"And those would be?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"'Yes, Tiella. I _do_ want to go out with you.' or ' _I like you, too_. Let's get dating.' could work for me, too."

Glynda stared back at her with a very faint blush forming on her face. "You do realize that you're blushing at your own words. Heavily, even."

"You can't just point that kinda thing out!" she said while looking away while crossing her arms with a pout, hiding her blush from Glynda. "I was trying not to be too self-conscious of it, god damn it."

Qrow and Ozpin watched the exchange quietly in amusement, Qrow being more surprised than amused. His eyebrows were raised with his lips pursed as he nodded in acknowledgment.

"You really weren't kidding about the loving banter, huh."

"I'm glad to see that you've gotten quite close in the few days you've spent together, however, let's try to get back to the topic at hand."

"V-Very well, Headmaster. My apologies for my unseemly display." Glynda said while stiffly adjusting her glasses and sitting upright.

Tiella simply nodded her head multiple times with pursed lips, still blushing.

"Moving on," Ozpin said, "do you still wish for more proof?"

Qrow only hummed in thought. He put the papers on the table before crossing his arms in contemplation. They all stayed silent for a moment before Tiella broke the silence once more.

"Hey, Headmaster."

"Yes?"

"Mind if I go back to my room for a bit? I think I have something that might convince him."

Ozpin raised a curious brow before nodding his head. Tiella nodded her in thanks and left the room as soon as she could. Qrow and Glynda curiously glanced at the door, wondering what Tiella could possibly have. Admittedly, they were both a little excited to find out, though Glynda tried not to show it.

* * *

Tiella walked a few steps from the door before she paused in the middle of the empty hallway. She let her casual facade fade away, revealing her dull expression to no one. She sighed and continued walking, albeit slower than before.

 _"I gotta stop the whole trying to date Glynda thing. I don't deserve that kinda normal life."_

She got into the elevator and leaned on the wall at the back with her hands in her pockets.

 _"Even if I can't help flirting. She deserves better than a shitty gun-for-hire."_

* * *

Qrow poured himself another glass before taking another sandwich.

"So, Glynda."

"Yes?" she responded curtly, not really looking forward to whatever questioning Qrow had for her.

"Care to tell me about her?" he asked with a curious brow raised.

"She beats you at being crass and rude. She also has a way with names and words," she said flatly.

"Sounds like a story," he said, amused at the thought. "What'd she call you?"

"None of your business." she dismissed vehemently.

"She called her, and I quote, Blondie McHardass," Ozpin said with an amused smile. "She also called my face Fugly—all within the first few minutes of meeting with her, too."

" _Ozpin!_ "

"Granted we both gave her a stressful and painful time, but it certainly took us by surprise."

Qrow's eyes were wide and his mouth hung agape in a large smile before he started cackling and doubling over. He rose from his slouch, showing the tears in his eyes as he kept laughing at Glynda and Ozpin, wiping them away a few moments later with his thumb.

"Oh, _man_. That's _good_."

"Very funny." she glared.

"It fits, too."

Glynda shook her head with a roll of her eyes in response.

"And I can't believe she called your face fugly." he said in amusement and bemusement, "First, I hear she got you to serve her a glass of milk. Then, _this_. I've never heard anyone talk to you with so much sass."

"It was quite refreshing to meet someone who didn't immediately hold me in high authority, that's for sure," Ozpin said, clearly amused.

"So, what else can you tell me about her?" he said, looking back to Glynda for an answer.

"She's one of the best unarmed fighters I've seen," she said flatly.

"So, she fights unarmed, eh?" he said with eyes alight with a keen interest in them, "And she's good enough to impress even _The Good Witch of the South_ so much that she unquestionably called her _the best?_ "

Glynda groaned, "I told you never to call me that. And I said _'one of'_ , not just _'the best'_."

"I just don't normally hear you throwing out such high praise even at the best of times."

"I'm simply stating what is true in my eyes."

"What do you think of Ruby, then?"

"Miss Rose is decent enough for a 15-year-old. She could do better if she stopped being so childish."

"Yang?"

"Average. She needs to think more before she acts before I can start looking at her in a better light."

"See what I mean?" he said, looking to Ozpin for acknowledgment—to which he only received a wry smile, "I'm pretty proud of my nieces even after knowing all their faults, because I know they're still young and will definitely do better in the future. _You_ , on the other hand, are harder to impress than a _rock_."

Glynda glared at Qrow while he only smirked at her back. She sighed in annoyance before sipping her tea.

"If you want proof you can watch recordings of her matches."

"You know," he said, downing a sip from his glass, "That sounds like a good idea. Can you show me one now?"

Glynda fetched her scroll from her pocket and fiddled with it for a short moment before handing it over to Qrow over the table.

"That's her first official spar."

Qrow watched eagerly, unable to wait any longer to sate his curiosity of the girl. They stayed quiet for the duration, each eating and drinking at their own leisure. Glynda watched Qrow's expression changed from curiosity to confusion by the end of the video.

"Is it just bad video quality? Or does she also have a speed semblance?"

"The video's fine. She only had her Aura unlocked just hours prior to that match. So, no, she doesn't even have a Semblance yet. Everything you saw her pull off was just from passive Aura enhancement."

Qrow whistled in response. "That's just martial arts?"

"I believe so."

"You sound awfully proud for some reason."

"You're imagining things."

Before Qrow could further question her, they heard the sound of the door opening.

"Hey, I'm back," Tiella said as soon as she opened the door. "Anything I missed?"

"They were just telling me how you gave them beautiful nicknames," Qrow said, tossing Glynda's scroll back to her.

"Nicknames..?" she wondered for a bit before her face lit up in realization, "Oh, fuck. Yeah." she rubbed the back of her neck shyly, "I'm, uh... yeah. Sorry about that."

"I've forgotten about it until _Ozpin_ decided to remind us," Glynda said, shooting Ozpin a glare. He simply drank from his mug leisurely.

"Yes, well—Tiella, why don't you show us what you retrieved from your room?" Ozpin said, changing the subject.

"It's this baby here," she said, holding her smartphone up for everyone to see. "This is what I mistook your scrolls for. It's called a smartphone where I'm from, and I think I have a few photos here that should help convince you if nothing else."

She walked back to her seat and held her phone in front of her, gesturing for everyone to come closer. "It's behind in terms of technology compared to scrolls but they're basically the same thing."

She tapped the screen, moving from one application to another until eventually, she reached her photo albums. "The places I have here don't exist anywhere in this world even if it might share some similarities. Just like Vale's city..." she said, scrolling down the album until she reached a few scenic shots of a city that looked similar to downtown Vale.

"This is a place called Manhattan. It's found in the state of New York, in the United States of America—remember the coin I showed you?"

"Yeah... that's where you got the coin?"

"It's the main currency there, yeah. Though it has a lot of different types of coins and paper bills, not just the one I have." she scrolled down further, searching for a different photo.

"I never took you for one to take a lot of photos," Glynda commented.

"Because I'm not. Lillianne sent me everything here."

"I see."

They all observed the quickly passing by photos, trying to catch a glimpse of what she had other than scenic shots from places she's been to. At one point when Tiella'd slowed down from scrolling, they all saw a group photo where there was a tent behind them. Though, before they could further look at the people's faces in said photo, Tiella had already maximized the one right next to it.

"This one's here is from Arizona, same country, different state. It's called the Grand Canyon, and for good reason."

"My, how marvelous," Glynda commented. "Dr. Oobleck would have a field day in there."

"More like a field year," Tiella said. "The photo only shows a small part of the entire canyon." she scrolled up, going past the photos of Manhattan before stopping at photos of certain ruins.

"This one here's called the Aztec civilization ruins. According to archaeologists, these ruins are around 3000 years old."

Ozpin, Glynda, and Qrow eyed the photo carefully, noting the odd and certainly old structure of the buildings in said ruins.

" _3000 years old?_ " Qrow asked in disbelief.

"That certainly doesn't look like anything I've seen before, and I'm very much a well-traveled man," Ozpin commented.

"How old does human history go back in your world?" Glynda asked curiously.

"I'm not sure, really." she shrugged, "Some scientists suggest recorded history goes as far back as 5,000 years."

All three showed varying degrees of surprise and disbelief as their recorded history only went as far back as 1,200 years ago.

"And prehistoric humans probably go over 100,000 years. Though, I might be wrong about that since I never really cared much for history." she shrugged, "I'm just repeating what I've been hearing from the archaeologists I've been working with before I got here."

Once again the trio paused to take in the new pieces of information laid to them by their otherworldly recruit. It was a little too much info to take in all at once, especially considering the large gap between their and her world's histories.

"I feel that that is a topic much suited for another time," Ozpin stated after clearing his throat.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm ready to hear about it unless I'm sober."

"You're never sober." Glynda immediately retorted.

"I know." he grinned.

"So..?" Tiella asked, urging Qrow for an answer.

He went back to his seat and crossed his arms before leaning his head far back with a sigh. "As outlandish as it sounds, I've no choice but to believe ya. I never really thought Oz or Glynda would lie to me, but it's just way too hard to believe something like that even given what I know about my own world."

"Great!" Tiella beamed, glad to know that there would be no need to reveal her Skill.

"So, Oz," he said, "what's the plan?"

As everyone had returned back to their original seats and at least had Qrow up to speed, they all eagerly awaited Ozpin's new orders.

"For the moment, not much will change. However, I will have Tiella accompany you in some of your missions."

Qrow raised a questioning brow at his decision but decided to listen further.

"She's a mercenary with at least 7 years under her belt, so I believe that she would be helpful to you in areas other than spy work." he then gave Tiella a questioning look, "Unless you've experience with espionage yourself?"

"Nah, I'm poor with info gathering. I usually let my one teammate do all that. I just go in and kill when ordered." she said with a wave, "I'm good with quiet assassinations though if that's what you're wondering."

"Does she know about my Semblance?" Qrow asked warily.

"Should I care?" Tiella asked curiously.

"Unless you're fine with dying from an accident, then yeah."

"I was kicked into this world because my teammate is a safety hazard. What else is new?"

Qrow sighed, "My Semblance is bad luck." he said, giving Tiella a look. "It's always up even when I don't want it to. But I can amplify it using my Aura. It's why I work alone."

Tiella gave his words a few moments to sink in, thinking over the pros and cons of working with a man with supposed bad luck following him everywhere. "Never really had much luck anyway, I'll be fine. I learn to make do." she shrugged.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Tiella sighed as well, scratching the back of her head in annoyance. "Since you told me that you're practically a safety hazard to other people, I guess I should at least let you know that I'm not so different."

Glynda gave Tiella a knowing look while Ozpin simply observed from his seat.

"I have a Skill. It's not a Semblance, but it's something similar. It's a thing from my old world." she started, "I never wanna use it, even as a last resort but..." she pursed her lips before giving her lower lip a lick, "I take everyone's strength away. Friend or Foe. And it gets amped up by how much I'm hating on someone."

"So you steal people's strength away?"

"Kinda? I personally don't get any stronger than I already am from it. I just continuously lower their energy until they're limp noodles."

"I can see why you wouldn't wanna use it when you have a team with you, but why not even as a last resort? Seems like a pretty nifty skill to me."

"Personal reasons." she dismissed.

"Gotcha."

"Other than that," she looked to Ozpin, "it apparently makes me a literal beacon for Grimm."

"Apparently?"

"We've yet to test it out, but on her first day, her Skill leaked out—or so she suggests." Ozpin stated, "Right here, in this very room, a Giant Nevermore recklessly attempted to charge in. It didn't succeed, of course. But due to the heavy drawbacks of using her Skill in a populated area, I've yet to decide on a location to learn more about it."

Tiella's expression took a turn for the worse. She'd expected it and had been planning to go along with attempts to learn more about it, but it's still not something she looked forward to.

Glynda saw Tiella's sudden dip in her mood, so she cautiously observed and looked for words to say.

"Why not the Emerald Forest?" Qrow asked.

"Because her Skill only leaked out a tiny amount and it already called upon a Grimm that was presumably kilometers away from where we are currently." he stated grimly, "I can only imagine the amount of Grimm we'd call upon should she unleash it—and that's ignoring what _kind_ would be attracted." he looked to Tiella with a questioning look, "And to my understanding, you only know to unleash it at full, is that correct?"

"Yeah," she replied curtly, grabbing another sandwich before stuffing it in her face.

"You're less of a safety hazard and more of a bomb ready to explode at the drop of a feather," Qrow said before sipping from his glass and pouring the last of his flask on Tiella's glass.

"Yeah, yeah." Tiella took the glass and downed it all in one gulp before putting it back on the table and returning to stuffing her face with the rest of the sandwiches. "I don't really wanna use it at all and frankly, you'd all make my day if we'd just stop talking about it and forget it even exists in the first place."

She drank a glass of water before speaking once more, "But even I know that I can't just let things stay the way they are. So... like, just fuckin' let me know when you're ready to face a horde or something." she said with her arms crossed.

Glynda relaxed from her seat, glad to know that Tiella was at least willing to learn as she hoped.

"Good." Ozpin said, "For now, you have the rest of the month to get used to life here in Vale. I'm sure you've yet to see more of the city and the forest."

"Thanks." she said, "I gotta join Port with Grimm hunting and Oobleck with his expedition, too. Luckily, the expedition isn't until next weekend..." she said, remembering her talk with the doctor once more.

 _"Good thing I asked about it again, too. I thought my entire weekend was gonna be all work and no rest. Karen would kill me if she learned I didn't take my weekends off properly."_

"Moving on. Qrow?"

"Yeah?" he said, lazily turning his head to face Ozpin.

"What have you learned so far?"

"I was on a trail for Amber's attackers until you called for me. From what I got, they're here in Vale, though that ends up cold in the warehouse districts up north Vale."

"I see."

"Tried looking underground?" Tiella asked.

"You mean down the sewers?"

"Yyyep," she said, popping the 'p'. "While not always in the sewers, you'd be surprised by the number of _underground crime networks_ literally working _underground_."

Qrow thought the suggestion over before he heard Tiella speaking again. "I'm not sure how your crime syndicates work here, but where I'm from, if they aren't posing as bars, hotels, brothels, or casinos, then they're probably literally underground."

"I'll give it a look," he said pensively.

"Though, you should probably investigate the warehouse district before you start going there."

"That's the plan."

"What else do we have?" Tiella asked.

"We've discussed everything, for the most part. I'll just need to send a report of the discussion to the General for the next meeting," Ozpin said after leaning back on his chair. "You're dismissed."

"Great," Tiella said, standing up from her seat.

"Guess it's back to lookin' for leads again." Qrow as well, already heading for the door with his hands in his pockets.

"Have a nice day, Professor Ozpin," Glynda said, bowing her head before leaving and shutting the door behind her.

* * *

"I'll be heading out. The longer I stay away, the colder the trail gets." Qrow said. He left the two in front of the elevator as soon as they got off.

"We're counting on you," Glynda said.

Qrow simply waved his hand without looking back or stopping.

"Anyone gonna tell me who Amber is? Because I've been hearing about her and I feel left out." Tiella said softly, minding to lower her voice within the halls.

"Not here." she said while discreetly glancing around, "We'll talk more about her back at the apartment."

"Then, I'll see you later," she said with a wave of her hand, moving on to her next class to shadow. It should be History next on the schedule, as she tried to recall.

"Yes, do take care with your work today," Glynda said while adjusting her glasses before she walked back to her next class.

On the way, Tiella met Team CRDL in the hallways. She watched them carefully and when the four of them saw her, the three stooges behind Cardin immediately avoided eye contact—making her sigh in disappointment.

 _"Well, at least it looks like they're not making a mess any time soon."_

She met Cardin's gaze and he ignored her not a second later. They passed by each other without a word exchanged between them, each one minding their own businesses.

 _"Looks like they're all tame now. I can't believe a little talking to was all it took. Maybe I'm better at this job than I initially thought?"_ she thought, allowing a small smile to appear on her face.

As the boys continued walking, they all sighed in relief—Cardin not really showing it, but he did it, too—when they passed by Tiella without any issues.

 _"That bitch took out the 3rd seat in a match unarmed. I'm never doing anything to get on that girl's shit list ever again."_ was the collective thought of all members of Team CRDL.

When Tiella got to Dr. Oobleck's class, half the students were already present. There were still a few minutes left before class began, so she simply waited by one of the seats once more—moving only when the Doctor needed her help.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I definitely took my time with this one, huh._

 _I'll be going for slower but steadier updates from now on because I've been noticing a drop in quality with how I'm going with the story so far._

 _I'll also be going back on all the previous chapters to proofread and make minor edits for anything I missed and don't make sense._

 _Would you need to re-read them again? No, probably not. I'll just be correcting some stuff anyway. But don't let me tell you what to do._

 _Also, the story for chapter 14's bonus chapter is originally from Game Over by Mizutani Fuka. It's short and cute, so do give it a read if you have the time!_

 _Anywho, that's it for now. I'll be seeing you guys in a bit._

 _And don't forget to write your reviews, please! Any form of criticism is a-okay. And even if you don't have anything to critique me on, just a simple comment on what caught your eyes will do._

 _Thanks again!_


	16. Chapter 16

AN: _I feel that it's only right that I put a trigger warning for this chapter._

 _Hopefully, I'm just overreacting but expect some explicit content. I know I said it was because our MC has a colorful language but this is the real reason I rated this story as M in the first place._

* * *

"Hey, Little Rose."

"Hey, Tiella." she gave Tiella a little wave.

"Weiss." she nodded.

Weiss didn't say anything but she nodded at Tiella as well.

They all walked together in the halls with Ruby leading the way. It was already after school and they were heading for the gym to continue their training from this morning.

"How're your arms?" Tiella asked casually.

"They're fine. I put some ice on them like you said, so that helped a lot. Also..." she said with a big smile, holding her arms up to show Tiella that she wrapped her forearms in gauze and tape.

Tiella nodded in praise before giving Ruby a pat on the head, glad to see that her student was capable of thinking to take proper care of herself.

"Good thinking, Little Rose."

"Hehe..." she laughed, "Thanks, but it was actually Weiss's idea."

"Oh?" she said, looking to Weiss in pleasant surprise, "Nice thinking to you, then." giving Weiss an approving smile.

She was caught off guard by the sudden praise, "I-It's only natural that I support my leader and partner."

After being forced to hold high standards through most of her life, Weiss wasn't used to being praised for the little things she did. She certainly didn't mind, though—it made her oddly happy.

"So, where are the others?" Tiella asked, unaware of Weiss's turn to a blissful mood.

"Blake's with Professor Peach for something, probably for that essay we had to write as partners. Yang's in the dorm getting ready for the gym." Ruby answered.

Tiella hummed in thought, "Anyway, if they're planning to join that's fine but I'll be focusing on you two."

"That's okay. We have our own training methods, too. Though, we're also planning to adopt your 'No Aura' policy in some of our training and sparring sessions, if that's fine with you."

"You don't really need to ask permission from me. I wasn't the one who started it."

"Where did you get the idea, then? From your mentor?" Weiss asked.

Tiella paused for a moment as she thought back to her younger days.

To a time when a 9-year-old Tiella met her one and only mentor, Romolo Evans—who she'd eventually call as Gramps.

* * *

 _"Y'see, lassie... Ah' dun mind takin' care o' ye, I owe yer Pops a lot back in the day, bless his soul—but bein' a Merc like me shouldn't be somethin' to be eager fer."_

 _I looked like a mess. My clothes were tattered and dirty. I had bandages to cover most of my bruises. Even a cast for my left arm, though I don't remember doing anything to get one. My guess was that they put it there when they did a check up on me._

 _I'd just been picked up from the hell that was my Uncle's home, apparently. There were a few explicit things that happened to me here and there, but the gist of it was that he was an abusive alcoholic pedophile._

 _Was._

 _Three days before meeting Gramps, I'd killed my Uncle after he finished his daily routine of molesting me while beating me up. I waited until he was drunk on his ass and sleeping without a care in the world on the couch that was more often than not his bed before I made my move._

 _I took his gun from where he usually kept it. The only reason I knew was because he's a drunk that loved to brag about his glory days back in the military. So, he'd sometimes bring out his gun to play by shooting at me, intentionally missing me by just a few centimeters and scalding my skin with the hot tip of the barrel._

 _He loved seeing me in tears, in pain and scared stiff._

 _Because seeing me scared stiff made him stiff for another reason._

 _Anyway, I waited till he was sleeping, took his gun, smothered him with a pillow before shooting him at point-blank range._

 _I remember seeing his brain matter splattering on the pillow and on the couch. I remember the sickening sound of blood splashing on my face and dirty clothes. I remember the sound of it dripping on the floor. I remember vomiting stomach acid over his corpse since I barely ate in his house._

 _After that, I just cried until I passed out._

 _I woke up the next day, unsure of how much time had passed since then. I was partially covered in his blood since I just passed out on the floor near him, his blood slowly made its way to me as it spread everywhere._

 _I remember feeling nothing._

 _I wasn't bothered by the blood, not anymore, at least._

 _I wasn't bothered by anything._

 _My stomach was empty and aching, but I didn't bother getting up from the floor. It was oddly comforting to me, just laying there without a care in the world just like how the world didn't care about me. I thought that it was only fitting._

 _For the first time in a long time, I remember genuinely smiling._

 _After a while of just staring at the ceiling, I cried again. Not bothering to stand. Not bothering to wipe my tears away with my blood-soaked hands. I just cried and cried, though I don't remember whether I was sobbing loudly or just sniffing quietly._

 _I don't remember how long it took, but eventually, I passed out again. The next thing I knew, I was in a tent and there was this blonde kid, who I learned was Karen, looking at me from my side while poking at my face with her finger. It was pretty annoying, quite frankly, but I didn't have the energy to even get mad or say anything._

 _Karen called for Gramps after she saw me wake up. After a short while, they fed me something. I can't remember much but it was some crappy stew, I think? Whatever, it really was just garbage, and now that I think about it, it should have been an affront to humanity how someone had the gall to cook something like that and make me—a traumatized victim—eat it._

 _I hated it so much but I gobbled it all up with tears flowing from my eyes and snot dripping from my nose. It was disgusting and I likely would have vomited under normal circumstances, but I didn't care. It was the first time in a very long time since I had a meal all to myself._

 _Much less someone actually cooking for me._

 _"I don't care! I wanna be a hero like Mommy and Daddy!"_

 _Gramps didn't say anything for a while. He was just looking at me, but not really_ _ **at**_ _me. He had this distant look on his face as he stared into my face. Probably reminiscing about his days with Dad._

 _"Why don't ye' just stay with us for a while first? See how we do things—how we live. If yer still up for it, then I'll teach you everything I know."_

 _So, I did._

 _Years later, I became known as the Red Comet._

 _And just 6 months ago as decreed by the Pope, the Devil's Right Hand._

* * *

"Tiella?"

She was snapped back to reality by Weiss. She saw both girls giving her odd looks, so she just gave them a casual smile to assure them.

"Sorry, it's nothing." she dismissed with a casual wave of her hand.

Weiss and Ruby didn't believe it was nothing. They saw the sad look that briefly passed on Tiella's expression as soon as they asked about her mentor. But since Tiella didn't want to talk about it, they had no choice but to accept it.

"I remember it like it was yesterday." she started fondly, "Everyday was hell."

"What?"

"Uh..."

"I remember going to bed every night with my bones aching and my muscles hurting." she had a wry smile on her face as she began recalling her days to the two. "I would practice by punching a training dummy until my fists began bleeding, then switch to my legs after that."

"..."

" _That_ part of my training happened every morning for three days before I switched it up to target practice for the rest of the week. I remember getting smacked on the head for every time I miss a target, and even if I hit a bullseye, all I got was a _'Took ye long 'nuff! Do it again!'_ and a smack on my ass." she said in her best impression of a grumpy old man's voice before laughing at the memory.

"Good times, _goooood times._ "

"Uh... when did you say you started training again?" Ruby asked worriedly.

She held her chin and looked up, "9 years old, I think?"

Weiss and Ruby grew even more worried, for both Tiella and themselves. Worried that some grumpy old man made a 9-year-old punch a wooden dummy until she started bleeding almost daily, and worried that they may have to go through the same thing as she did. Weiss especially as she had to keep up the unmarred figure to keep herself _'perfect'_ in the public eye.

"Anyway!" Tiella said, "We'll talk more about it later. I can just tell you about my training as we go, too."

She gave both of them an evil grin as she put her arms over their shoulders, dragging them to the gym. "We're gonna have a lot of _fun_ today."

They were both unable to look at Tiella's eyes that had turned into slits as she chuckled in that mad grin of hers. Cold sweat ran down their napes and foreheads before they steeled themselves for whatever Tiella had in store for them.

When they arrived at the gym, they found Yang and Blake waiting for them in their gym clothes already. Yang jogged to greet them with a big smile and a wave but paused when she saw the stiff and pale expressions on Ruby and Weiss.

She gave a look to Blake who caught up from behind her but all she got was a confused shrug of her shoulders. They later understood the reason for their leader and teammate's expressions.

It was a day with a lot of firsts for Team RWBY.

It was their first time experiencing soreness at that level after a day of training.

It was their first time learning how out of shape they were without their Aura.

It was Ruby's first time learning how to actually fight unarmed.

It was Yang's first time learning that punching something without Aura _like she had Aura_ was the worst idea she ever had.

It was Blake's first time realizing that she relied way too much on her Semblance to dodge, so she ended up getting hit much more than she'd like.

But the most unforgettable moment of the day was when they first heard Weiss swear so viciously, calling Tiella a _sadistic psycho bitch_ with so much venom and disdain while somehow still staying classy.

They were surprised, to be sure, but they all agreed with her to some degree nonetheless.

Two hours of excruciating pain and jovial laughter from Tiella later, Team RWBY hit the showers and immediately dragged themselves back to their dorms before collapsing on to their beds.

And due to that, Yang and Ruby didn't have the energy to climb on to their own bunk beds, so they were allowed the privilege to share in their respective partners' beds for the rest of the day.

* * *

[Good day, Tiella.

Please pick up the order for Beacon Academy at the address provided below, it's already been paid for. There's someone waiting for you already by the docks to join you. There's no need to come back immediately, so you may take your time, but do try to come back before nightfall.

Have a nice day.]

 _"That's probably the most formal way I got asked to do an errand."_

Tiella put her scroll back in her pocket as soon as she finished memorizing the address Glynda gave her. She went back to her room to get changed into a more casual outfit.

She wore a plain white sleeveless button up blouse (leaving the top and bottom buttons undone), adorned by a black necktie that hung loosely around the collar, under a short black leather jacket that only reached down to her mid-back with a Sun and Moon mandala-like symbol on its back. She wore black jeans with a simple dark brown leather belt and a pair of black, mid-calf lace-up boots.

She kept her usual accessories, particularly all her earrings and the necklace as she'd grown to like them.

 _"All I need now is a bike and I'll be your textbook biker girl."_ she thought as she gave herself a once-over in front of the full body mirror in her room.

Satisfied with her look, she headed for the docks while wondering who could be joining her in her little errand.

As soon as she arrived at her location, she was surprised to find the one person that never crossed her mind. She paused in her steps, staring at the person disbelievingly—doing double takes and even triple takes as well as looking around to make sure it wasn't just a coincidence. The person in question saw her and gave her a small wave before walking over to her.

"Are we ready to go?"

"You're my escort."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't see why not."

"Are you skipping out on work?"

"As far as I'm concerned, this is my work."

"Then, I guess it's fine if I ask Glynda just to make sure, right?"

"If it will clear up any confusion, by all means."

 _One very short and animated phone call later..._

"Okay, then," she said, still eyeing her escort incredulously.

"Are we ready?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, leading the way into one of the airships.

Her escort gave her a quick once-over before smiling at her politely.

"I must say, you look quite nice in casual clothing," he said as he caught up beside her.

They were being looked at by the people around them, mostly students who were going to and fro as well as visitors. It was certainly an odd sight to see the Headmaster out on the airship docks accompanied by the infamous Professional Bully.

"This isn't a date, Ozpin. There's no need to flatter me." she said curtly, "but... well, thanks anyway." she said without looking back as she looked for vacant spots.

As soon as they found empty seats, they sat down and spent most of the commute in silence. It was mostly awkward silence for Tiella, though. And since she didn't like the idea of suffering in said awkward silence, she distracted herself by looking out the window and taking in the scenery of Vale's city proper.

* * *

 _"I've never been to Manhattan before!"_

 _"I can't believe you're this excited over coming to some shit city with crummy as hell people."_

 _"But Tielle! It's the place where all the comic books happen!"_

 _"Your shit comic books just came to fuckin' reality and the entire planet's gone to hell because of it."_

 _"You're just saying that because you're a sourpuss."_

 _"I'm not being a sour puss, Lilly, I'm just looking at reality."_

 _"That's why it's so cool, don't you think?"_

 _Lillianne grabbed my hand and dragged me along._

 _"Come on, we still have some time before our job officially begins. Let's see where Sp*der-m*n does most of his swinging in the comic books!"_

 _"Don't just fuckin' drag me into your sight-seeing! I need to check on my guns and- H-Hey!"_

 _We just ran from place to place that day. Both to get to more places while also running from the local bandits that will loot everyone and everything that comes and goes in their turf._

 _We could've easily taken them, but it would've been a waste of time._

 _By the time we finished and got back to the hotel room where the rest of the group was, I got chewed out by Karen for skipping the meeting with our client._

 _I said "I" because I never fuckin' noticed Lillianne disappear. I had to listen to Karen nag me about being professional by being on time and whatnot. When she finally finished nagging my ears, I was so ready to just pass out in bed until I saw Lillianne holding two cups—waiting for me in the lobby._

 _"You're an asshole, you know that?" I said, giving her a disapproving glare._

 _"You're just slow. Come on," she said, handing me a cup of hot milk, "Don't be mad! I got you your favoriiite~" she said in a sing-song voice._

 _I really don't understand this girl. One moment, she's the most capable person I know. The next, she's just like any normal girl you'd find just about anywhere._

 _"I'll be taking that," I said, snatching the cup from her hand before downing it all in one gulp, "you don't get to leave me to suffer Karen's nagging and bribe me for nothing."_

 _I inched closer to her while cracking my knuckles, making her back away for every step I took._

 _"I-I can always get you another cup..? H-Here, you can have mine!"_

 _"I'm not falling for that boiled fuckin' Gat*rade crap anymore!" I said, slapping her cup away, making it spill on the hotel lobby's carpet._

 _"It wasn't boiled Gator*de and I'm sorryyy!"_

* * *

When they both got off the airship, Tiella checked the address given to her on her phone once more to make sure she had the address memorized correctly, before she went off in the opposite direction of her destination.

"Do you have some place in mind you'd like to go to first?" Ozpin asked from beside her.

"No, not really." she said, noticing a few passing looks sent their way, "I just wanna take a walk since Glynda told me that I had time until before nightfall."

"In that case, I'd be happy to be your guide around town, if that's fine with you."

"Who else better than to have the esteemed Headmaster of Beacon Academy to be my guide through Vale's winding streets?"

"How would you like to have something to eat on the go, then? I'm sure all that training with Team RWBY has made you hungry for at least a small bite."

"You really do like to keep tabs on everything, don't you?"

"It's just that it's quite easy to keep an eye on everything when I have a small body of students to worry about. I prefer to send out a few high-quality graduates instead of just a high number of them, after all. I produce huntsmen and huntresses, not soldiers."

Ozpin led the way to the nearest desserts stand which was luckily just a few meters from the airship docks.

"You'd probably be able to send a higher number of them if you had more professors, too."

"Here we are." he said, pausing in front of a crepe stand, "Let it be my treat."

"I'd usually reject the offer, but you're my boss. So, thanks."

Tiella skimmed past the menu before she lined up and ordered two large vanilla crepes with blueberry sauce. She walked over to Ozpin who was paying for them and offered one to him, causing him to look at the offered crepe with one raised eyebrow before looking back to Tiella.

"It'd be pretty awkward for me if I'm the only one eating."

He gave her a small smile in response, "I see." he accepted the offered crepe, "Thank you."

She smiled and took a big chomp off of her crepe before moaning in delight. " _So good._ "

Ozpin took small bites out of his own as opposed to Tiella's eager munching.

"So, why are you my escort? Couldn't you've just asked someone else if you think I really needed one?"

"I make an effort to spend time with my employees after making sure I've dealt with most of my work."

"Is that right?" she said with a playful doubt to her tone and smile.

"I found that spending time like this makes it easier for my subordinates to speak with me about their misgivings. That way, I can make it easier to find ways to make it a little easier for them during their time in Beacon. And that includes you now."

"Hmm, makes sense. Here to ask me about my problems, then?"

"No."

She squinted her eyes, giving Ozpin an incredulous look once more.

"Today I am your escort." he said, answering the silent question Tiella had for him, "And besides, I'm sure you'll let me know if you had any problems I can help you with when you feel like it."

She smiled at his words, "You're not half bad."

It was Ozpin's turn to ask Tiella a silent question.

"I'm saying you're not as bad as I thought you were. No offense, but before you told me what huntsmen were actually like, I thought you were just a manipulative asshole that likes using kids to fight for you. So, I was sorta waiting for an opportunity to slit your throat to make my escape."

Ozpin smiled wryly at the honest first impression. "I'm glad to know that I've cleared up any misunderstandings."

"Yeah, well-"

"Excuse me, but are you Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy?"

Tiella paused from the interruption and looked behind them to see a trio of young girls who looked no older than 16 looking up to them, particularly Ozpin. They both shared a look before looking back to the teens.

"Yes, that's me."

"I _told_ you!"

"Go on, do it!"

"Alright, alright! I'll do it already, stop pushing me!"

Ozpin watched in amusement while Tiella took a few steps back to wait out whatever business the girls had. She had her arms crossed and was leaning on a wall by a store—earning a few looks towards her, likely due to her unusual height, she'd assume. She was used to those, though, so she just ignored them and listened in on the girls.

"C-Can I have your autograph, sir? I... I'm from Signal Academy and I've been a fan since forever!"

"Very well, where should I write it?" he said with growing amusement.

"O-Oh!" she hurriedly opened her bag to search for something before pulling out a small water bottle. "H-Here, please!"

Ozpin took the bottle and fished out a pen from his hidden chest pocket, clicking it open before speaking, "And to whom do I sign this for?"

"C-Casey, um, please!" the girl stuttered, unable to keep herself from being starstruck.

Ozpin began signing,

" _To Casey,_

 _Keep moving forward._

 _\- Ozpin_ "

"Thank you, so much! I'll treasure it!" she said while graciously accepting the newly signed water bottle.

"You should ask for a picture!" one of her friends suggested.

She looked back to her friend, then to Ozpin expectantly. Ozpin simply nodded his head before they each took out their own scrolls. They took a few photos, each girl taking one with Ozpin, then one group photo with all of them together—taken by Tiella.

"Thank you, ma'am!"

"It's fine." Tiella said with a casual wave before addressing him, "Ozpin, I didn't know you were a celebrity. Maybe I should get an autograph from you, too? I wonder how much they'll sell?"

The casual way of addressing their target of admiration caught the girls by surprise. Ozpin wasn't quite sure how to react except for a wry smile.

"That's quite shrewd of you," he said.

"I'm just being practical, you know?"

"Ma'am?" called one of the girls.

"Yeah?" she looked back, giving the girl a casual smile.

"Are you a huntress, too?"

The question caught her by surprise, unable to answer immediately. She contemplated whether to answer honestly or just lie about it, but before she could answer, Ozpin did it for her already.

"Why, yes she is."

"What!?" Tiella yelled in surprise.

"Really?" the girl asked in a small fascination.

"Of course. In fact, she's currently one of Beacon Academy's rising stars. She's just joined my staff early this week and yet she's already made quite the name for herself. Not to mention greatly contributing to my students' development in terms of combat prowess."

"Ozpin!?"

The trio looked at her in a newer, brighter light as opposed to the passing glance they gave her a short while ago.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Ozpin urged with a bright smile, very amused at putting Tiella on the spot.

She put on a strained smile in front of the girls before she did as told, "My name's Tiella and yeah, I'm a _huntress,_ too." she said through the clenched teeth of her strained smile, giving Ozpin a quick glare before looking back to the girls with a casual smile.

"But you look so young!"

"I get that a lot."

"When did you start being a huntress?"

"When I was 12." she said, _"It's technically not a lie since that's when I started taking jobs."_

"Whoah."

"Really?"

"How old are you now?"

"18."

The trio looked at her in wide-eyed fascination. If it had been any other person, they'd have doubted her words easily but since Ozpin himself backed her up, they believed that they had no reason to doubt.

"That's so cool."

"Can I have your autograph, too?"

"And a photo?"

"Uhh..." she drawled, looking back to Ozpin—who was still looking watching in amusement—then to the girls hesitantly, "I... I'm sorry but I don't really do autographs." she said, immediately taking note of the disappointed looks on the girls' faces, "But I guess photos are okay?" she said, causing the girls to smile wider again.

They all did the same as they did with Ozpin, each taking solo photos with her before a group photo with all of them in it—with Ozpin taking the photo for them this time.

"May I know your full name, ma'am?"

She wore a wry smile on her face before giving the girl a head pat, "It's Celestiella V. Margory, but you can just call me Tiella."

"Thank you, Ms. Tiella!"

"Thank you!"

"I hope you teach us when we get to Beacon, too!"

Each girl quickly walked off after giving her parting words. Tiella stood waving at them, still wearing a strained smile on her face while Ozpin had been taking a few photos of what had just happened unbeknownst to her.

"Ozpin," she called, her voice was cold and devoid of amusement.

"Yes?" he responded, his voice filled with amusement.

"Where's the best pizza joint in this place?"

"5 blocks from here, if I remember correctly."

"Let's go."

"Very well," Ozpin said, quietly leading the way to a place called Mama Jane's Pizza.

The door chime rang as they came in and Tiella hurriedly sat to the nearest vacant table, all while emitting a menacing aura to everyone around her. Ozpin casually sat in front of her and they both quietly waited for an unwilling waitress to arrive.

The _scared_ waitress hesitantly walked over, holding two menus for them both.

"W-Welcome to Mama Jane's! How may I s-"

"Tch." Tiella crossed her arms abruptly as she continued glaring at Ozpin, hoping to make him evaporate into thin air with her brain power. It wasn't working but,

" _Eep!_ "

it did scare the waitress even further. She had fierce-looking eyes even during her casual moods, but now that she's angry, people were more likely to run behind Grimm for protection from her instead of the other way around.

"My apologies for my friend," Ozpin said, eyeing the name tag on their waitress, "Ms. Cammy. We'd be happy to call for you as soon as we've picked something from your menu."

"O-Of course, sir. _P-Please_ , take your time." the waitress said, almost pleading. She left the menus on their table before scurrying off into the personnel room.

Tiella gave up on glaring at Ozpin, so she instead glared at the menu after snatching it from his hands. Ozpin never let up on his casual smile all throughout. She skimmed through most of the meals, going to the large pizza section immediately. She eyed the meals critically before she held her hand up and snapped her fingers loudly—calling to attention most of the store's customers and staff members.

Immediately, a more seasoned waiter appeared before them, elegantly bowing and gracefully waiting on their order in the most dignified manner.

"Yes, ma'am. What will it be?" he said, unfazed by Tiella's menacing glare that she was again directing at Ozpin.

"I'll have the 18-inch cheesy meaty deluxe pizza with thin crust and cheese & bacon-stuffed ends," she said coolly.

"And your drinks, ma'am?"

"Water's fine."

"Very well, and what of the gentleman?" the waiter asked, expertly writing down the first order on his notepad.

"I'll ha-"

"He'll be having the same." she cut in.

Ozpin didn't say anymore after he was interrupted and his order made for him, so he simply gave the waiter an apologetic smile and a nod. The waiter nodded as well before writing down Ozpin's order.

"To clarify, ma'am, your order is two 18-inch cheesy meaty deluxe pizzas with thin crust and cheese & bacon-stuffed ends," he said, repeating the order to Tiella.

"Yes, but put in a lot of your hottest spices," she said, her voice a cold, piercing tone that cut through the heart of every person that heard her speak. Every person except for Ozpin and their waiter, that is. "I want this thing to _burn through our Auras_ and _scald our taste buds._ "

"Very well, ma'am." he said, writing down her request, "Will there be anything else?"

"Just the two cold glasses of water for now."

"Understood. Will this be for here or to go?"

"Dining in."

"Understood. I'll have your orders prepared immediately." he said with a bow, "Please, enjoy your time here at Mama Jane's." and gracefully, he went off.

They spent the next few moments in silence until the waiter came back carrying the two cold glasses she ordered for them. They both nodded their heads toward the waiter in thanks.

Tiella took the glass and sipped slowly, feeling the cold water run down her tongue and throat, marginally calming herself down. Ozpin did the same.

"Why did you do that?"

Ozpin placed his glass down the table gently before looking out the window to his left, "No particular reason."

"Wanna run that by me again?" she asked, her temper rising once more.

"I wanted you to experience for yourself one of the few perks of being a Huntress," he answered a little more honestly.

"HA?" she asked threateningly, slamming her hands on the table. The water on the glasses shook but not a drop was spilled.

"I thought it would be funny," he answered in complete honesty.

"That's what I fuckin' thought." she said with barely hidden annoyance, "And I'm _not_ a huntress. I can't be the hero your kids are trying to be! I told you before, I'm a _professional_."

"Yes, you aren't," he said, looking back to Tiella with another smile on his face. "And you could have simply denied my claims earlier."

"Are you kidding me?" she asked in incredulity, "You look at those girls again and tell me you can let those starstruck eyes down."

He smiled wryly, remembering the adoring looks from the girls' faces as they asked for his autograph and photos.

"It's certainly a hard thing to do."

"Exactly!" she nearly yelled, waving her hands animatedly, "I may be a professional but I'm not completely heartless!"

"I know," he said calmly before sipping his glass of water.

" _You kn- of course, you fuckin' know."_ she said, her annoyance level shooting up even further, "Why the hell would you do it in the first place, _right?_ "

Ozpin didn't answer as he was content with simply sipping on his glass. He saw Tiella fetch her scroll before she began typing. He raised a curious brow at her which she easily noticed.

"I'm asking Glynda if I could kill you right now."

"That's not really something you should be asking your boss. Much less say to your employer."

"We'll see." Her scroll beeped not a minute later and huffed in disappointment. "She said no."

"I'm ever so grateful to Glynda."

"You should be."

They spent the next few minutes in silence once more, Tiella's glare having dropped down to a small pout as she took the occasional sip of her water until their order arrived. The waiter held two trays that carried their order.

"For you, ma'am," he said, gracefully placing her piping hot pizza on her side of the table.

"And for you, sir." doing the same for Ozpin.

"Thank you, my good man."

"Thanks," she said, no longer angry now that her food was served.

She began digging into her pizza in earnest, taking her first bite. She definitely felt the heat of the spices even through her Aura—her tongue burning before going numb, causing her to salivate even more.

She loved it so much that she'd completely forgotten about her anger with Ozpin, even putting one pizza slice on top of another. She continued eating until she got through half of it before she noticed Ozpin hasn't touched his. She swallowed her last bite before taking a few gulps from her glass.

"You're gonna finish that here as punishment for your crimes."

Ozpin was a little surprised by the statement, so he gave her a wry smile and took one slice to taste. "Forgive my rudeness, I just found it a little surprising that someone else can eat this without so much as huffing for air through the heat of it all."

"Oh? Is the esteemed Headmaster fond of spicy food, too?"

"You could say that."

"Damn." she said, going back to her pizza, "I thought I could get back at you by making you cry, guess I just helped you fill your stomach."

"My apologies for ruining your revenge. But I must thank you, not only for this but for your contribution to the cafeteria as well."

"What do you mean?"

"I've become a big fan of the Sloppy Tiella."

"Now that's something I never expected to hear." she said with an amused smile, "Eh, whatever. I get to eat a whole pizza, so you're forgiven."

"My thanks," he said with a nod, taking another slice for himself.

They spent the next 30 minutes finishing their pizzas (5 minutes in Tiella's case) before Tiella called for the waiter once more. The dignified waiter appeared beside her almost immediately before he bowed his head gracefully.

"How may I help you, ma'am?"

"Can you call back the waitress we had earlier?" she said with an apologetic smile, "I want to apologize for being an ass."

The stoic waiter gave her a small smile at the request before immediately returning to his stoic expression. "Very well, ma'am." he bowed his head once more before going into the personnel room.

A short moment later, the waitress from before had arrived, still a little scared stiff and was wearing a strained smile on her face.

"H-How may I help you, ma'am?"

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about before." she said with an apologetic smile, "This jackass with me was being a jackass and I sort of just ruined everyone's day here. Not cool, I know."

"T-That's alright, ma'am." the waitress said, calming down marginally. "Will that be all for today, ma'am?"

"No.," she said, fishing out her wallet, "You can have this tip." offering a 50 Lien tip.

"Oh! But I can't take such a large tip!" she said, politely rejecting the offer.

"Cammy, right?"

"Y-Yes?"

"I like the pizza here, Cammy."

"We're glad to hear it, ma'am."

"So, I wanna properly apologize to you, too, not only because I feel bad about it, but also to make sure I can come back to this place's pizzas with no problems."

"T-That's..."

"Besides, this _jackass_ is paying."

"I don't believe calling your employer a jackass is a good thing." Ozpin chimed in.

"I call you how I see you," she said, giving Ozpin another small glare before returning to give the waitress a casual smile. "Please, Cammy?"

"Uhm..." the waitress hesitantly looked around and back to Tiella multiple times.

Tiella took the 50 Lien and placed it on the waitress' hand. She then gently enclosed it with her own, running her fingers on the waitress' fingers sensually before tilting her head slightly to the side while flashing the waitress her most charming smile.

"Please? Or would you rather I pay you back another way?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "How about a date? I'd be so happy to have you show me around town."

The effect was instant, causing the waitress to blush heavily, even the nearby customers that could see the exchange were caught in the effects of her charm. The waitress stared for a short moment before gingerly nodding her head in acceptance.

"T-The tip is fine, t-thanks."

"No, thank _you_ ," Tiella said with a wink, letting go of the waitress' hand. "We'll also be taking the bill now, please."

The waitress continued to stare dazedly at her before she realized that Tiella'd requested the bill. "Y-Yes, of course. I'll be with you in a moment," she said, hurriedly bowing to Tiella before scurrying off once more.

Tiella was waving at the girl with her fingers until she disappeared from her sight and when she looked back to Ozpin, she was greeted by another amused smile.

It put her off, so she asked warily, "What?"

"Oh, it's nothing." he said, drinking the last of his water, "I simply hadn't expected you to be quite the charmer."

"I'm not." she pouted, leaning on the table with her elbow and placing her chin on top of her hand, "I was told that being seductive was a weapon exclusive to women, so I had to make good use of it." she said, "But since I'm not exactly _feminine_ , I had to charm people the other way."

"It certainly worked, that's for sure. A little too effectively, I might add."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing," he said, glancing around the room to find a few other customers were still giving them looks.

Their waitress arrived shortly after, and Ozpin paid for the bill as was promised.

"Thanks, Cammy," she said while wearing her casual smile once more—causing the girl to blush once more.

She stood in front of the waitress and gave her a soft and gentle smile, "I'll be sure to come back and visit you sometime soon."

"O-Oh!" she stammered, blushing even further. She played with her short hair idly while trying to formulate words, "T-Thank you, ma'am."

"Please, it's Tiella."

"O-O-Of c-course, Ms. Tiella."

"Shush, now. There's no need for titles. It's just Tiella," she said, tilting her head to the side while she looked at her with soft eyes as she spoke softly, "okay?"

"...y-yes."

Tiella waved at the girl with a smile and a wink once more before finally leaving the establishment.

"I think you overdid it."

"Did I? I'm not really a fan of trying to be charming, so I don't know how much is too much," she said, pocketing her hands as they leisurely walked on the sidewalk.

"I see. Where would you like to go next?"

"I think I should grab whatever you guys ordered now."

"Very well, let me lead the way."

They spent their walk in silence, with Ozpin contentedly glancing around and Tiella in contemplation.

"Hey, Ozpin."

"Yes?"

"Am I really gonna be a huntress now?"

"I've been making preparations for your huntress ID since after I hired you."

"Yeah?"

"Yes, and you can expect to receive them early next week."

"Guess it was bound to happen one way or another."

"I was expecting you to not take kindly to being labeled one."

"It's a front. I use fake IDs all the time. It's nothing new."

"I see."

They arrived at the location specified by Glynda and entered the store, ringing the door chime.

"Welcome to The Pantasia!" A plump middle-aged lady from behind the counter greeted them. "Ah, Professor Ozpin! I didn't expect you to be the one to pick up the package."

"Good afternoon, Emilia. I was in the area with my friend, here." he said while walking up to the counter and pointing to Tiella with an open palm, "She's my newest employee. She may be young but she's already a well-seasoned huntress."

Emilia gave Tiella a quick once-over with a keen interest in her. "Well, I'll be."

Tiella tilted her head in confusion while giving her a casual smile. "Yes?"

"You look just like that Nikos kid!"

"Do you mean Pyrrha?"

"Yeah! The Mistral Tourney Champ! My son is a fan of hers and she comes by here from time to time." she said, looking up to Tiella with a big cheery smile, "Mind telling me your name, young lady?"

"It's Tiella." she said, extending a hand, "I've been hunting for a few years now but I'll just be getting my license in a few days."

"I see." she took the offered hand from the much taller girl while nodding in understanding, "Well, I'm sure you're busy. So, let me fetch your cake."

"Thanks," she said, watching Emilia disappear into the back. "What's the cake for?"

"There's a small celebration to be held in the staff room in just a few hours. Everyone's making preparations in the room and since they're busy, they had no one to ask but you to pick up the cake."

Tiella hummed in acknowledgment. "What's the occasion? Someone's birthday?"

"Yes, it's Glynda's."

"And she didn't tell me!"

"I'm sure it slipped her mind as well. You know how much of a busybody she is."

"Thanks to you, yeah."

"Here you are!" Emilia said while popping out of the backroom with a medium-sized cake box before packing it up inside a plastic bag and handing it over to Tiella. "Thank you for your patronage! We hope you come back to The Pantasia, have a nice night!"

"You, too," Tiella said with a small wave of her hand as they exited the store.

Tiella and Ozpin headed straight for the airship docks as the sun was setting low by then. The time limit Glynda gave her was before nightfall, after all. They continued their small talk on the way back to Beacon—and when the arrived, the went for the staff room in the main building as soon as they could.

Tiella held the cake in one hand, so she could swing the door wide open—foregoing the knocking—and speaking in a loud and clear voice.

"Hey, Glynda! I wish you told me it was your birthday, so I could've gotten you at least a dildo or something but whatever, happy birthday! Are you 40 now?"

She was expecting a retort but all she got was an offended scoff and a dark room greeting her back. She was confused for a bit but then the lights went on after a quick flick and there she saw all the professors standing in the room decorated with a few party props and banners. She glanced around curiously and found a large banner with the words _'Welcome to Beacon, Tiella!'_ in the top middle of one wall.

All the professors in unison greeted her loudly, "Welcome to Beacon!"

"Wha..." she stammered, lost for words.

She was dumbfounded as she looked across the room. She saw Glynda angrily stomping over to her to give her a strong forehead flick that knocked her head backward before grabbing her forearm and dragging her into the center of the room.

She rubbed her forehead in response, trying to soothe the pain even though her Aura should have blocked it. _"Did Glynda actually flick my forehead with Aura enhancements?"_

"For your information, it's not my birthday—it won't be here for another 3 months. I'm sure Ozpin lied to you." she said, giving Ozpin a glare, "And for the record, I'm only 32."

She gave Tiella another strong flick on the forehead, causing her to react verbally this time. "Ow! What the hell? That was way stronger!"

"And I will _NOT_ accept anything like what you proposed you would have gotten me!" she said while angrily adjusting her glasses with a scowl.

"I didn't know!"

"I know you didn't know."

"Then, what the hell!

"You were making me angry."

"That's workplace violence towards your subordinates! I'm calling human resources."

"Go ahead, I can tell them about your harassment of me as well."

The other professors in the room were laughing as they watched their exchange.

"Now, now." Ozpin stepped in, putting a hand on both Glynda and Tiella's shoulder to placate them. "There'll be plenty of time for more banter later."

"You started this!"

"Why did you lie to her about my birthday!?"

He ignored them both and carried on, "So, why don't we get your welcome party started?"

"My welcome par-..." she glanced around once more, finally taking in the situation as a whole. "Wait, you prepared this for me? Why..?"

"Why not?" Port said, "We figured that it is only right to warmly welcome a new member of our staff."

"Of course! It'll give us the opportunity to take it easy, as well!" Oobleck added.

"And I'm sure we're not the only ones itching for a time to kick back and relax." Peach commented.

"So, you guys just wanted an excuse to drink?" she said, looking to each and everyone in the room.

"Yes." -Port

"Yes." -Oobleck

"Yes." -Peach

"Yes." -Ozpin

Tiella looked at Glynda who was avoiding eye contact with her. "Glynda?"

She kept quiet for a while, adjusting her glasses before sighing, "...yes."

"Hahahahaha!" she laughed, "Great! Great!" she walked to one of the tables to place the cake on. She cleared her throat and spoke in a clear voice, "Thank you, everyone, for the very warm welcome. I hope we get to know each other better, yadda, yadda, yadda, all that stiff and formal crap." she said, earning a few chuckles from some of the professors.

"So, let's drink! Cheers!" she said, holding one glass up in front of everyone.

Everyone grabbed a glass of their own held them up before responding in unison. "Cheers!"

"Does anyone want to see the photos I took of Tiella when I escorted her throughout Vale?"

"Ozpin!?"

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I was planning to make this a little longer, but I figured I'd just put the rest in the next chapter._

 _How was the M rated part? Do you feel that it's only right that I keep this story M rated? Or do you believe it's fine for me to lower it down by a rating?_

 _Also, what the hell am I talking about? Slower and steadier updates?_

 _I literally wrote on my profile that I'll be updating sporadically!_

 _That's not good at all, Emma._

 _So, with that. My apologies for mismanaging your expectations. I'm truly sorry._

 _Reviews, please!_


	17. Chapter 17

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I considered the review about it and decided that I'll be bringing this down to a T rating._

 _At first, I was worried that some of the latter contents in this fic would be a tad too much for a simple T rating, so I played it safe by rating it M—the whole colorful language thing was simply a small part of the reason why I made it like so._

 _But after some time, I think we all noticed that my content consists of banter for the most part, so there's really nothing M rated about it unless I make it 90% sex jokes—though I suppose even with that much sex jokes, I doubt it should be enough to warrant an M rating._

 _So, there you have it—we're down to a T!_

 _Thanks so much for the reviews. It's what keeps me motivated to continue writing, in all honesty._

* * *

In the early hours of the City of Vale,

within the learning grounds of Beacon Academy,

in the dorms where most students rested,

in the room of a certain Team RWBY,

on the lower bed to the left of the room...

Weiss Schnee slept peacefully—enjoying the comfortable warmth of the sunlight filtered through the curtains of the room. While she was certainly not one to sleep in despite her hectic schedule as a student of Beacon, on this particular weekend, she'd already gone at least an hour and a half over her usual wake up time due to certain reasons.

Reasons being Tiella.

Particularly the training she made them go through.

"Hmm..."

She was lightly woken up by a sound next to her, but since she still wasn't feeling like she wanted to return to the waking world, she ignored it and chose to hug her bolster pillow a little closer to her—enjoying the relaxing sensation cuddling as she so rarely experienced.

 _"Hmm..?"_

She buried her face a little deeper into her pillow and couldn't help but crave the odd but _very_ welcome warmth of it, making her wonder how she never felt this particular sensation before.

 _"Whatever... it's comfy."_

Her mind was drifting back to sleep with only the sound of lightly rustled leaves and the soft chirping of birds could be heard just outside their dorm room window—before she finally realized that the reason she'd never felt this warmth before was because she'd _never_ had a bolster pillow in her life, much less on her bed.

Her eyes abruptly opened wide, taking in the mixture of dark locks highlighted with red at the tips in front of her. She took in the sight of the fair, supple _skin_ that was partially covered by a disheveled black tank top with one shoulder strap nearly falling off one shoulder.

"G-Good morning, Weiss..." she heard, a very soft and embarrassed whisper coming so close from a little above her.

 _"Wha-"_

She looked up to find what she feared, silver eyes that were demurely looking back at her—cheeks a stark shade of pink.

"Hi."

She gasped and immediately pushed her supposed _pillow_ away, the same shade of pink flushing on her cheeks as well.

"Ruby!" she yelled, tightly grabbing onto her by the shoulders.

"Y-Yes, Weiss?" she asked, both confused and scared of her partner.

"What are you doing in my bed and why were you _hugging_ me!?" she said, sitting themselves upright violently.

"Uh, well- I- wa-"

"Speak up!" she said, shaking Ruby violently, not realizing that she was the reason Ruby couldn't properly speak as she so demanded.

"I ca- n't sp-"

"You better have a good reason for invading my personal space, and more importantly, my _privacy_ so early on _my weekend!_ "

"What is going on..?"

"Wha..?"

Woken up by the noise from the other side of the room, Blake and Yang groggily sat upright from Blake's bed. Their hair was disheveled and Blake's bow was a little crooked, so she discreetly fixed it while everyone was still a little preoccupied.

Yang hung onto Blake, putting her arms over her shoulders and pressing her lips on the backside of Blake's shoulders.

"What are they doing..?" Yang asked, still fighting sleep.

"I'm not sure either," she said, giving Weiss and Ruby a blank stare.

Not a second later, Yang was back to sleeping while still on Blake while Blake herself was already fully awake.

"Well!? What do you have to say for yourself!?"

"Weiss- I'm gonna- thr-"

" _What!?_ "

"Weiss." Blake cut in.

" _What?_ " Weiss responded, stopping her continuous shaking of Ruby to give Blake an annoyed look.

It irked Blake quite a bit, but she reminded herself that this morning was an unusual situation, so she will let it slide. For now.

"Ruby can't speak."

"What do you mean she can't speak? Are you saying she's brain dead?" she asked sarcastically.

"I'm saying she will be if you hadn't stopped shaking her so much."

"What do you-" she stopped, realizing Blake's words after giving Ruby a look. Her eyes were spinning and she was holding both hands to her mouth—as if to stop herself from throwing up.

"Oh... _Oh._ "

Suddenly, most of her anger had vanished, the adrenaline that woke her up disappearing along with it—causing her to feel the soreness of yesterday's training all over her body, remembering the hell that she'd gone through that lead to the unusual circumstances of her weekend morning.

She took a sharp breath, flinching from the pain on her back, shoulders, and abdomen.

Ruby'd finally pulled herself together, gingerly rubbing her arm as she looked back at Weiss.

"Hey, Weiss?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"Are you okay?"

"No, Ruby. I'm sure you know why."

"Yeah..." she said, slowly getting off of Weiss' bed. She took a sharp breath as well, straining her arms and legs just from minor movements. "Ow."

"I'm sorry about earlier..."

"It's okay." she assured, "It _was_ a pretty weird morning."

"Since when were you awake?"

"...about 2 hours ago," she said weakly, Weiss almost missing her words—Blake, however, heard it loud and clear, causing her to smirk in amusement.

" _2 hours ago?_ " Weiss repeated in incredulity, "Why didn't you move already if you'd been awake that long?"

"Well..." she began, shyly playing with her fingers as she looked down in embarrassment—hiding her blushing face away from Weiss, "You were kinda... -gging me tightly..."

"I'm sorry?" Weiss asked, not really hearing Ruby.

Although, Blake, once again, heard her loud and clear—making her smirk even more, lightly jostling Yang awake and off of her shoulders. "Yang, wake up. You're missing something good," she whispered.

"Wha..?" Yang came to, rubbing the sleep from her eyes away.

"Just watch and listen." whispered while pointing at the two on the other side of the room.

"You were... -ugging me tightly..." she said, a little louder.

"Ruby, you're going to need to speak a little louder than that if you want me to hear you clearly."

Ruby finally faced Weiss in all her blushing glory, causing Weiss to blush just as much as well for reasons she couldn't understand yet. She then leaned closer to Weiss, covered her mouth from both sides and whispered,

"I said, you were hugging me tightly."

Weiss stayed silent for a moment to process Ruby's words, turning the gears in her head to see whether her words carried some underlying meaning that she missed. After a few scant seconds of repeating Ruby's words in her mind, her face turned a bright red.

"I-I was _not!_ " she said indignantly.

"I-It just sort of looked like you were feeling really comfortable and I didn't wanna interrupt yo-"

" _I was not!_ "

"I'm so-"

" _I WAS NOT!_ " she yelled, "I will _never_ —in my life— _ever_ take delight in such a pointless activity especially one such as what you are accusing me in engaging of, _even more so_ with _you_ of all people!"

"Oh," Ruby said, eyes downcast as she rubbed her arm gingerly. Weiss caught her morose expression and glum tone before Ruby spoke cheerily.

"Don't worry, Weiss!" she said, giving her a big, bright smile. "Today's just an unusual morning. I'll be sleeping on my bed like usual tonight."

She quickly got off Weiss' bed and ran for the bathroom, locking the door shut with a click—the soft sound of running water resounding from within.

Weiss followed Ruby with her eyes and when she disappeared into the bathroom, she breathed out a sigh. As she was about to wallow in regret of her own choice of words, she saw Blake and Yang giving her disappointed and disapproving looks. Though it was more of a glare in Yang's case.

 _"Typical Schnee."_ Blake shook her head, "Ice Queen was meant to be a nickname simply to tease you but I guess the name suits you better than we thought." she said coldly, before standing from her bed to prepare for her morning workout.

Weiss flinched at Blake's words, the despondency her tone carried made her regret even more. Yang, however...

"Hey, Rubes," she said, giving Weiss one last disdainful glare before moving closer to the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" came the voice of Ruby from inside.

"Are we still going on that morning training? It's a little late but it's the weekend, so we might have some time."

"Yup! I still have Tiella's glove to do after that, too."

"Great, me and Blake are gonna wait for you at the sidewalks."

"Sure! I'll be joining you in a minute!"

Weiss prepared herself for whatever Yang was to do with her, so she braced herself with tight lips and a stiff sitting posture on her bed. Her eyes stared intently at the floor, expecting a confrontation from Yang, though... however long she waited, the only thing she heard was the sound of the door opening and closing shut with not even a word from her other two teammates.

She looked at the door with a pained expression, her hand clutched to her chest as she felt her heart squeezing. She felt her eyes slowly build heat and water, though before the first tear fell, the bathroom door opened—revealing Ruby in her gym clothes, giving Weiss a refreshing smile.

"Aren't you gonna come to train with us, Weiss?" she asked with a cute tilt of her head.

Weiss turned her head away, taking a deep breath to ease her aches before standing up from the bed. "Of course I will. I needed to use the bathroom, too. I was just waiting for you to finish."

"Oh, uh, sorry about that... but I'm done now!" she said, stepping aside for Weiss.

"I know," she responded curtly, keeping a straight face as she headed for the bathroom to freshen up, locking the door as soon as she got inside.

"I'll wait for you!" she heard Ruby say through the door. Weiss didn't answer, she simply opened the faucet and washed her face. She leaned her hands on the sink and hung her head low, letting out a deep sigh—wiping the few tears she let fall on her cheeks.

She couldn't understand herself. It was odd to her, how she would act so flustered like she did. Her usual reaction when attempting to cover her embarrassment was to calmly and simply deny accusations, false or not. It was how she taught herself to lie after years upon years of interaction with every other snake and liar that her name seemed to attract left and right.

She took an empty glass and filled it with water from the tap, quickly downing it with a few, large gulps, letting out a refreshed breath as she finished.

 _"Why?"_

Why did she prefer a confrontation with Yang and Blake instead of what just happened, she thought.

 _"Why did it hurt when Blake looked disappointed at me?"_ at best, she'd simply be annoyed by Blake—at worst, she'd get mad at her, too, or so she thought.

 _"When Yang glared at me without saying anything?"_ she'd never seen Yang quietly burn with anger before and it honestly scared her just as much as it hurt her.

 _"Does that mean I messed up that much? But it wasn't my fault!"_

She thought back to the hurt expression of Ruby from before. It was quick and subtle but she saw it— _and she saw it clearly._ It's true that her words were hurtful to some degree, but she couldn't understand why it'd pained Ruby so much.

 _"Just... why?"_

And when she saw her face, why did it pain her, too?

* * *

Blake and Yang were in their gym clothes on the halls on their way to the sidewalks and to a lot of the students, they'd much rather step out of their way.

"Hey," Blake called.

"What?" she responded curtly, not bothering to look back at Blake.

"Good call giving them time like that," she said, trying to placate the slowly ticking time bomb that was her partner.

"I didn't do it for them," she said, stopping in the middle of the hallway. Blake didn't say anything, only giving Yang a questioning look. "I did it for me," she said through tightly grit teeth, her hands clenched by her sides.

Blake saw Yang's anger slowly rising, so she took her hand into hers, gently unlocking it open and twining her fingers in between.

"You still did good," she said softly, gently urging them to move again.

Yang didn't say anything, only lightly nodding her head at Blake's words as she followed her lead.

"Knowing Weiss, I'm sure she already regrets what she did." Blake continued, "So, I'm sure they'll make up in no time."

"Knowing Ruby, they won't."

"You have that little faith in Weiss?" she asked, surprised at her partner's words. She herself didn't hold Weiss in high regard—especially when they first met—though that changed little by little as she spent time with her and the rest of the team. "I know she isn't the nicest girl but I have to give her more credit than that, especially after how she made up with Ruby that night after our first day of school."

"No." Yang said, her mood mostly placated, "I'm saying Ruby'll make it hard on her."

"What do you mean?" she asked incredulously, "I didn't take Ruby to be one to hold grudges."

"She isn't... but she's one to brush off the bad things that happen to her and put up a front to keep others from worrying."

Blake listened closely, still trying to understand what her partner was trying to say.

"She probably doesn't do it intentionally, but there was this one time I got mad at her for something petty, and I just blew up in her face," she said, her tone ashamed as they slowed their walk, gently squeezing Blake's hand. "A few hours later, I felt _really_ bad about it, so I wanted to apologize as soon as I could."

She held Blake's hand a little tighter and closer to her as she continued, "But when I saw the smile she gave me? As if nothing ever happened? Even though I knew I hurt her badly—it just made me feel even guiltier, you know? Like, any apology I made would have come across as insincere, so I kept delaying it—to the point that during the next few days, I ended up avoiding her because I noticed that she kept her distance from me, too, before I could even properly apologize."

She paused in her steps, looking back at Blake with a sad smile. "It wasn't like she was outright disappearing at the sight of me, no—I was the one that did that to her. What she did was she restrained herself from being too friendly. She gave me small smiles and waves from afar instead of jumping on me like you usually see her doing to me."

Yang's eyes went downcast as she recounted her days to Blake, "She kept herself at my arm's length, and it tore me inside because I thought I fucked up badly, but when I actually apologized for it and we talked about it, she told me that she was restraining herself because she thought _she_ was the one bothering me. That _she_ was the one that _mad fucked up_."

She gave Blake a wry smile, leading them to their destination once more as she gently held her hand. Blake contemplated Yang's words for a moment before she spoke, "So, you believe that it'll happen to Weiss, too."

"Yeah..." she said, scratching the back of her head in annoyance, "Don't get me wrong, I still wanna sock Weiss in the face for what she did, but I also know that she's just as socially awkward as Ruby, if not more."

Blake smiled at her words, "I didn't think you'd have considered that, Yang."

"Are you calling me an idiot again?" Yang asked with a pout, clutching onto Blake's hand tightly as she squinted her eyes at her.

"No," Blake calmly responded after a chuckle, "I'm just surprised that you're not as overprotective of Ruby as you make it look to everyone—or that you'd be worried for Weiss in that situation, too."

She let go of her tight grip on Blake's hand, returning to a gentle hold as they neared the sidewalk, "Well, yeah. I can't keep holding her hand forever—as much as I want to." she said with a small nostalgic smile, "And Weiss is still sort of a bitch, but she's grown on me like another sister, so I don't really hate her anymore like back before initiation or the first day."

"But you're fine with holding onto mine for as long as you want, right?" Blake asked, shooting Yang cheeky smile.

"Hey, you're the one who held mine first, I'm just enjoying it while it lasts." replied just as cheekily.

It wasn't until they got to the sidewalk when they let go of each other's hand to get started on their own warm-ups. They turned their Auras off and stayed silent, content with focusing on their dynamic stretches until they saw Ruby walking up to them while giving them a wave of her hand with Weiss just a step behind her—still looking rather glum.

 _"Looks like Yang was right. Any other day and I would've chalked it up as her resting bitch face."_

They noticed Weiss avoiding eye contact with any of them, which got them giving each other knowing looks before they both let out sighs in unison.

* * *

— _At the same time in the East Wing Dormitories_

"Ow... fuck me..."

Tiella held her head as she sat by the edge of her head, still feeling groggy after last night. Her head was throbbing painfully, as if the world was spinning and bombing her head with unknown ringing sounds.

 _"Been a while since I got smashed this hard."_

She stood wobbly, lightly stretching her neck around before she gave herself a look in front of the mirror.

 _"Yep, I got smashed, alright. What time is it anyway?"_

Her hair was a mess and she had drool running down her cheek that she wiped off with the back of her hand. However, when her backhand grazed her cheek, she flinched from the sudden pain.

"What the-?"

She touched her cheek again and looked at it from the mirror, noting a hand-shaped swelling on it. She tried to remember how she got it but could get nothing even after a minute or two of trying, so she just moved on to her next problem.

She was naked again, she likely stripped as she got more and more comfortable before falling into a deep sleep. She checked the wall clock—8:17 am—it was a lot later than her usual wake up time, so she clicked her tongue in annoyance, almost regretting the drinking match she and Port had.

She totally should have won that match, she thought. She just had way too much to eat before the party began, she reasoned. So, even before the match, she felt quite full already, and when she had one too many drinks, she had to scamper to the nearest trash can to puke—before returning to the table and taking another shot, acting like she didn't just vomit out her lunch seconds ago.

 _"'Come on, Mustachio! Time for Round 2!', huh?"_ she thought with a chuckle. _"Wait... I got smashed."_

Her eyes widened and face turned pale at the realization with her mouth slightly hung agape.

 _"I GOT FUCKING SMASHED! FUCK!"_

She hurriedly wore a plain T and a pair of boxer shorts before she ran out into the living room where she saw Glynda taking sips of her tea by the couch, scrolling through her scroll.

"Glynda," she said, foregoing the morning greeting as she felt a strong need to address her fears immediately.

And just as she suspected, Glynda gave her a glare as she sipped her tea before adjusting her glasses. She put her teacup down and crossed her arms and legs, never saying anything as she continued to send Tiella baleful glare.

"I... I don't really remember what happened last night, but I do know that I likely did something pretty bad." she began, "I'm pretty sure I fucked up. Can you... tell me what happened?" she asked weakly, her voice rising a few pitches in fear.

She earned an offended scoff from Glynda, which she felt was only fair, before she began recounting last night to her.

* * *

Hours after the small party had begun, Glynda found herself in a bit of a predicament.

"Come oooonn, Glynda... Just... a little... _kissy-kiss_..."

"Y-You're drunk! You smell like puke and alcohol!" she pushed, "A-And stop pushing me!"

"Am _not_ drunk..." she slurred.

Everyone was already intoxicated at the time, even Glynda who normally would control her alcohol intake—if it weren't for Tiella who kept forcing her to take shots. The only one who seemingly still hadn't had enough and could likely take quite a lot more was Ozpin—who sat idly by one of the tables, casually sipping on a glass of wine.

They were both on the floor and Tiella was forcing herself on top of Glynda. "Fi-" she hiccuped, " _Fine!_ " she stood abruptly, causing her to wobble in her place. "I'll just smooch someone else instead!" she said, slurring the words out.

She unsteadily walked over to Peach who was hanging on her stomach over the backrest of one of the couches, passed out already.

"W-Wait!" Glynda yelled, standing up abruptly, causing her to wobble a little unsteadily as well. _"I can't let her kiss Peach! It'll look wrong in all sorts of ways!"_

"Too late!" she said, grabbing Peach by the collar of her lab coat with one hand, raising her up to meet her face. Her lips were just centimeters away from Peach's own before it was stopped by a barrier of sorts.

"Peach tastes weird... bleh," she said, plopping Peach back to the chair in her original position before walking away.

 _"Thank Oum, I blocked it in time..."_ Glynda said while sighing in relief. She immediately walked to Tiella and slipped her arm around her to grabbed her by the waist.

"Whoah, what the-" Tiella looked back to see Glynda scowling at her. "I-" hiccup, "I knew you couldn't resist me," she said with a grin, turning around to cup Glynda's cheeks with her hands before pulling her closer.

" _No!_ " she yelled as she coated her hand with a thick amount of Aura before slapping the living daylights out of Tiella, sending her crashing into the floor.

* * *

"And after that, I had to carry you here on my back."

It was then that she felt the dawning realization that she _fucked up._

"And while I was carrying you, you were _still_ trying to kiss me. In your sleep."

 _Big time._

"But since I didn't let you lock lips with me, you gave me kisses everywhere else instead."

By then she just wanted to wink out of existence.

"You gave me a hickey on the back of my neck!" she yelled as she turned her back on Tiella, showing proof of said hickey just slightly below her nape.

 _"Oh my god, that's so ho- I mean- wait- no. Fuck. Stop it, girl! Fuckin' control yourself!"_

But her hormones were telling her to stay because Glynda was just _the most perfect object of adoration._

"But that's not even the worst part," she said through clenched teeth, her face growing red with anger. Tiella shrunk away from her glare, gulping in fear of what was to come.

"The hickey wasn't the worst part, _no._ " Glynda stood from the couch and angrily stomped up to the cowering Tiella until her face was just inches from hers. "Because I can still hide the hickey easily. What happened was _far_ worse." Though despite the menacing glare she was getting from Glynda, she couldn't help but think that she was so damn sexy when she's angry.

" _It was the fact that some students saw you doing it to me!_ "

Tiella's eyes were wide at her words and the only thoughts that went through her mind were _"I gloriously fucked up."_ and _"God, I wanna kiss her so bad right now especially since I can't remember last night at all."_

As Glynda glared while Tiella stared, Tiella realized that Glynda's face wasn't red with anger—at least, not solely because of it. She noticed that it was red because of embarrassment as well, as she could see in Glynda's eyes that while she was indeed furious, she didn't really seem to hate her.

 _Yet._

 _"Control your urges, girl! You're still not entirely in the red, so don't do or say anything to stupid fuck it up!"_

"Do you realize how that could negatively affect my reputation as the Deputy Headmistress of this academy!?" Glynda ranted, "I have a reputation as the pillar of morality and discipline to uphold! Because no one else among the professors would actively uphold it! Even more so with Ozpin himself! I'm sure even _you've_ noticed how lenient and doting Ozpin can be with the students, so I took it upon _myself_ to keep them in line! How do you think they'll respect and fear me if news spread that I carried a _drunkard_ that kept _kissing me on the nape_ in the middle of the hallways at night!? Granted, I could have easily carried you with my Telekinesis, but I was drunk, too! Which brings me to another topic of complaint! As a staff member of Beacon Academy, you have a reputation to uphold as well! You can't just-"

While Glynda showered her with her complaints, Tiella simply tuned out most of her words while focusing on her facial expressions. _"God, she reminds me of Karen with how she nags. She's hotter, though. Sorry, Karen, not sorry."_

"Are you even listening to me? Is _any_ of this _even_ coming through to you!?" she said, glaring at Tiella with all her might—noticing how her eyes seemed to glaze and her cheeks flush as she continued staring back at her. She let out an exasperated sigh while pinching the bridge of her nose, "Forget it. Just eat your breakfast before it gets cold." she said, shaking her head.

Tiella stood quietly, eyeing the plates by the table. _"Dried sardines and peanut butter—looks like I really pissed her off, huh?"_

Her eyes were down as she spoke to Glynda, "I'm really sorry about last night. I've no excuse and I should've known better than to get smashed like that."

"You should've known better?" she asked, eyeing her critically.

She glanced up with a wry smile but immediately avoided meeting Glynda's gaze, "It's, uh... it's a story that sounds _real_ similar to what happened last night and I'm not really proud of it."

"Care to tell?" Glynda said with a squint of her eyes, sounding more like an order than a request.

"There was this, uh... there was this one time we were gathering intel at a strip joint a couple months back and... well... long story short, I drank too much and I apparently turn into a kissing predator when that happens, then I forget what happened in the morning."

"And you still drank as much as you did even after knowing that," she said, her tone completely cold and unamused.

"I-I thought my team was just fucking with me and figured even if it was true it probably would've been a one-time thing since it happened while I was at a strip joint or something!"

Glynda remained silent, only giving her a blank look.

"I promise I won't do it anymore! I-I'll stop drinking!" she said, earning a raised brow from Glynda. "Wait, no. I can't stop drinking, not even for you—sorry. B-But I can moderate it! You can also just knock me out if you think I'm gonna go overboard again!"

Glynda shook her head with a sigh, going back to her tea and fetching her scroll. "Just eat already."

Tiella stayed silent as she stood with her eyes down for a short moment before she slowly walked to the table for her breakfast.

"Thanks as always, Glynda."

"Hmm."

And without a word of complaint or even any signs of showing distaste, Tiella ate her dried sardines with peanut butter breakfast.

 _"Well... it's not the most disgusting thing I've eaten. Though, I could use some coffee to get rid of this hangover."_

* * *

Hours after breakfast, Tiella joined Port with hunting the common Grimm in the Emerald Forest for his studies.

"Glad to see we weren't all knocked unconscious until tomorrow! I checked in with Dr. Oobleck earlier and found that he's still down for the count." Port said, his mustache wiggling as he spoke.

He stood in his usual clothing, wielding a blunderbuss with ax blades at the gun stock, which made Tiella question his personal preferences with weapons—though she didn't really voice it out.

"Wouldn't wanna miss out on seeing more of Vale," she said, tightening the gloves she wore as they chattered inside the airship. "And besides, I need a bit of a release."

Tiella wore a dark green camouflage tank top that partially showed her black sports bra, black cargo pants, and black leather combat boots. She wore a tactical utility belt that carried a few magazines and three hip pouches wrapped around her thighs and leg to carry more of her ammo among other things.

Port raised his bushy brow as a silent question, urging Tiella to explain.

"Nothing much, don't worry about it. I'll just kill some Grimm if you don't need to capture 'em."

"Very well, lass. We'll be hunting an Ursa today, do you know how to go about it?"

"Nope." popping the 'p'. "Just give me the important bits so I don't get in your way."

Port explained his capture methods to Tiella for the duration of the short flight to the Emerald Forest, all the while inserting a few of his own stories—though Tiella was quick to get them back on track as politely as she could.

They both jumped down the airship, landing easily on their feet. Tiella cocked her pistol as she glanced around warily, closely following behind Port. Not even a few steps later, they'd found themselves surrounded by a small pack of Beowolves.

Port was about to wonder aloud what could have attracted them so easily when Tiella spoke again, "Sorry about this, Professor. This is probably my doing."

"I see. Worry not, lass. This is all part of the hunt as far as I'm concerned!" he said, eagerly cocking his blunderbuss before he took aim.

"Hold on, Prof.," she said, raising a hand in front of Port, "Let me handle this," she said while holstering her gun. "I have a feeling this'll keep going unless I stop being angry." she finished, cracking her knuckles loudly before bunching her fist into her palm.

Port eyed her critically for a scant second before voicing his agreement, "I understand, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you in case things go awry."

"Thanks, Prof."

"And Tiella,"

"Yeah?"

"You're free to talk with me—with any of us, should you have any problems you cannot handle alone because not only are we your colleagues, we're also your friends here."

She gave him a slight turn of her head, sending him a small smile and a quick nod, "I'll hold you to that." before returning her attention back to the small pack of Beowolves surrounding them.

 _"Let's see... one, two... eight? A lot less compared to my first run in with them."_

She ran up to one Beowolf sending a right hook right at its jaw, shattering it immediately. She grabbed its slowly dissolving body and threw it at three others that were lunging at her. She stood surprised by her own strength before she spread her arms wide in a welcoming manner.

"Come on, you weak-ass pieces of shit! Call your Alpha and I'll fuck him over in front of you assholes!" she yelled, taunting them further.

The rest of the nearby Beowolves who were waiting their turn didn't take kindly to her actions. Despite not being able to understand her at all, they somehow knew that she was belittling them. They can tell by their ability to sense emotions—it's how they've always hunted, after all. So, they all howled in anger, calling upon them other nearby Grimm before they all charged at her—eager to gnaw at her bones with their own claws and jaws.

"Are you sure you can handle this, lass? That howl just now was a call to all nearby Grimm that heard them to join them."

"The more the merrier, Professor," she said, a ferocious grin spreading on her face when she heard the news. It sent chills down Port's spine for reasons he couldn't understand.

He'd seen on multiple occasions how battle hungry a few huntsmen and huntresses can get during a hunt but never had he seen someone look so rabid and ravenous as much as she did. It was odd to him—while at the same time it struck a familiar feeling inside him.

He observed the girl in question tear through the slowly growing pack barehanded—punch after punch, kick after kick. She'd sometimes use one Beowolf to beat another Beowolf, not unlike the first time he'd seen her in the live feed of the cafeteria that day—though, in this case, she showed completely no restraint in her attacks.

He caught a glimpse of her smile once more as she split one Beowolf's jaw apart with her hands before five-hit combo-ing another one that was lunging from behind her. The smile sent chills down his spine again, the feeling of oddity and familiarity coming back stronger. It wasn't until she began laughing maniacally did he recognize the familiarity as he watched.

The fear he felt, while not quite on the same level, was much like the time he first encountered a Grimm all those years ago as a simple farm boy.

The ferocity of her motions, the brutality of her attacks, the look of ecstasy as she continuously killed one Grimm after another.

 _It's as if she herself was a Grimm in human clothing._

 _"Or more accurately... she's the Grimm and the Beowolves are the Huntsmen. Is this the difference between us Huntsmen and Mercenaries?"_ he thought grimly. For the first time since his days of hunting Grimm, he truly pitied the soulless creatures.

He disliked having said thoughts on a new comrade as he'd prefer to refrain on making early, unfounded judgments of the people he'd only recently just met but her actions were simply a little too extreme and bordering on the negative scale of things in his opinion. He'd applaud her battle sense if he wasn't so awestruck by the scene before him.

Tiella roundhouse kicked a Beowolf's head, making it snap and spin on its shoulders a few times as its bone-white mask flew off—digging into a nearby tree before vanishing away.

 _"If I knew Aura enhanced attacks were this powerful, I wouldn't have bothered wasting my fucking bullets until I learned how to enhance 'em with my god damn Aura! God damn it, just thinking about it pisses me off even more!"_

The Alpha 'Wolf that arrived short while ago was sent to the ground hard as Tiella leaped and spun in the air, building momentum for a kick to its head that was intended to shatter its mask—though, she only succeeded partially—leaving a large crack on it with pieces falling and disappearing before they hit the ground.

She stood in front of the downed Alpha where she took a low, wide stance. She held her right arm close to her, fist closed partially and her left palm open in front of the Alpha's head. She took a deep breath and struck, her breath released along with it. Her fist went through the Alpha's head, crashing at a blinding speed—leaving a small crater on the forest ground where the Alpha's headless body laid before it disappeared into nothingness.

She stood upright, lightly stretching her arms, chest, and back—causing a few popping sounds to resound. "Is there no one else!?" she yelled, holding her arms wide again in a taunting manner.

"I'm still angry, you know!?"

"My dear girl! Your strength is marvelous but _do_ be careful not to bite off more than you can chew! The common Grimm within the forest mostly consists of the prey you've easily decimated, to be sure—however, the _uncommon_ Grimm may give you a hard time even with me to back you up." Port warned.

 _"I fear that the more she's indulged in her current state of mind, the more dangerous the Grimm will get. I see in her so much pent-up bloodlust that it's rather unnerving."_

Tiella looked back at Port with dull eyes, unintentionally sending shivers down his spine once more, though it disappeared easily as she sighed. "Alright, Professor. I've already wasted your time long enough, too," she said, giving him a casual smile. "Thanks for indulging a junior at work!"

"Any time, my dear, any time!" he said before laughing jovially, putting up a facade over the chill he felt from the look dead eyes she wore just before.

She put her hand on her hip and smiled wryly. "Ready when you are."

"Right on, lass!" he said, leading the way further into the forest.

It wasn't until they arrived near an Ursa hot spot when they encountered their target. And because of the show Tiella put for Port, he requested for her help in restraining or at least knocking out their target first before he called for the airship to pick them up at the rendezvous point.

Without much difficulty, Tiella captured their Ursa by repeatedly bashing its head with her fists just enough to keep it disoriented but not enough to kill it. And while it was dizzy from all the headbanging, she took the chance to drag it over to the cage inside the airship that Port called for as soon as she'd succeeded in restraining it. Their flight back to Beacon was filled in with exchanged stories and more banter as they waited.

 _"He's not as bad as I thought. I got a feeling his class would be more interested if he dragged them out into the forest for his classes instead. Whatever, not my problem."_

* * *

It was already past three in the afternoon when they arrived back at Beacon Academy. Tiella offered to help with carrying the caged Ursa back to wherever Port kept his live Grimm but he politely rejected the offer, stating she'd done more than enough already.

With pretty much nothing left to do for the rest of the day, she sat by one of the benches in the garden courtyard of Beacon. She lazily leaned back on the bench, her head hung back, and relaxed under the cool shade of a nearby tree and the gentle breeze, content with taking a short respite from her worries—worries that she'd just reminded herself of as soon as she thought about forgetting them.

She let out an exasperated sigh, _"What am I gonna do with Glynda? Hopefully, her worries don't actually happen. Am I gonna have to blackmail some students? No, wait- my priorities are fucked. How do I properly apologize? God, this was never a problem back in the camp. I usually just have a drink or two with them and we're all good."_

She let another sigh escape her lips once more but she was surprised to hear that another sigh had joined hers almost in unison. She looked to the right where she found the source of the sigh—a crestfallen girl with bright white hair done in a lopsided ponytail that sat at the opposite end of the bench Tiella was on.

"Weiss?"

"Tiella! When did you get here?" she asked in surprise.

"10, 15 minutes ago—I was here first, actually. Why?"

"Oh. I'm sorry... I just hadn't noticed that someone else would be here." she said, her tone soft and morose.

"Want some time alone, then? I could just skedaddle to the cafeteria or something—give you some space? Or do you want me to come back with anything to eat?"

"I'm fine without food, thank you, I just ate lunch. But I would appreciate some time alone if you don't mind," she said, sending her a small apologetic smile before casting her eyes down.

Tiella watched Weiss closely from her side of the bench—noting how she played with her fingers absentmindedly.

"Alright." she stood, pocketing her hands. "I'll see you around, Weiss. Good luck with what you're having trouble with."

She'd taken a couple steps away already before she heard Weiss speak.

"Actually..." she said, a little louder from before.

"Yeah?" she said, turning around to meet the girl who was now facing her.

"Do... do you mind if I talk with you for a moment? I-If you're not busy, hopefully."

Tiella raised a curious brow at Weiss, wondering what she could possibly want to talk about with her.

"That's fine but I'm gonna grab some grub first. I just got back from Grimm hunting with Professor Port. Do you wanna come with me or do you wanna stay here and wait?"

"I'll wait," she said with a small grateful smile, "thank you."

"Alrighty, then. I'll be back in a jiffy," she said, turning around with a wave of her hand.

While Weiss waited, she pondered on what exactly to discuss with Tiella. She didn't even understand why she'd ask for her help anyway. She wasn't particularly close with Ruby or the rest of her team, so she failed to understand why she'd called out to her.

 _"Is it really fine for me to involve other people in this? It's my problem and I shouldn't have to bother others for it. I should be able to handle it alone like a Schnee is expected to do._

 _I'm a Schnee._

 _I'm a Schnee._

 _I'm a Schnee..._

 _I can handle it!_

 _It's just that this is the first time I've encountered such a problem, that's why I'm taking so long to figure it out... that's all!"_

She lightly clenched her fists in frustration before she relaxed with a tired sigh.

 _"But the problem is that I just don't even know how to go about this anymore..._

 _Yang and Blake are mad at me..._

 _Yang won't even look at me!_

 _And even if Ruby's fine with talking with me, there's this odd space between us—as if she's keeping me at a certain distance, unlike before when the concept of tact and personal space was the stuff of myths and legends to her._

 _And this pain in my chest whenever I kept thinking back to her pained expression. I just don't get it!"_

"What do I do..?" she said softly, a plead for help to no one in particular.

About 10 minutes passed before Tiella returned with a half-eaten Sloppy Tiella and another one in paper wrap on her left hand with a small bottle of water gripped between her fingers. She plopped down a little closer to Weiss than before as she continued eating and licking her fingers. It would have elicited a disgusted remark or reaction from Weiss already had it been any other day—but all she got was an anxious side glance.

"So... what's up?" she asked, balling the first paper wrap before throwing it at the trash bin beside their bench.

Weiss was fidgeting in place, playing with her fingers while looking for a comfortable position to stay seated with. "It's- well..."

Tiella stayed silent as she ate, patiently waiting for Weiss to finish her piece.

"I'm just-..."

"..."

"It's about..."

"..."

"How should I put this..? I'm..."

"..."

" _Sigh..._ "

"Just fuckin' speak already!"

"Eep!"

"Look!" Tiella stood, already finished with her other Sloppy Tiella, "If you can't fuckin' say what you want, then it's obvious that you need to take some time off from even thinking about it!" she said while pointing at Weiss' face with her empty water bottle.

"I-I'm sorry!?" she instinctively apologized, flinching away from the water bottle pointed at her, "Hold on, why am I apologizing to you!? And what do you mean I need to take time off from thinking about it!? Don't you realize that I can't do just that because I can't _not_ think about it!?" she stood as well, confronting Tiella with a glare.

"Look, Weiss," she said, putting both hands on Weiss' shoulders, "I get it."

"What do you mean?" she asked incredulously. "And don't touch me," she said, shaking her shoulders to get rid of Tiella's hands, though they still stayed put.

"I mean, I've been there. I've had problems that I can't easily talk about, I know. The problem may not be the same but I at least know the feeling."

Weiss remained pensive after hearing Tiella's words. _"Do I really need to just forget about it for a while?"_ she thought, her eyes downcast.

"So!" she said, surprising Weiss with a sudden loud voice, "Why don't you join me in Vale?"

"What?"

"I've been there at least twice now, but it's a little too big for me to explore in just 2 days."

"Uhm..."

"Also, I need a few things. But really, I just wanna go window shopping—see if I can find anything I like or need. Who knows? Maybe you can find something nice that you like or help you with your problem?"

Weiss stayed silent as she stared up at Tiella with a dumbfounded look.

"My treat."

Weiss contemplated joining Tiella in Vale as she suggested but before she could even answer, she was already being pulled away into the airship docks.

"Come on! Just stop thinking for a bit and start acting like a dumb teenager!"

"Let go of me! I refuse to purposefully act like an idiot!"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Teens do it all the time unintentionally—no exceptions."

" _Excuse me?_ "

"Just shut up and let's go!" she said, sweeping Weiss off her feet and carrying her bridal style into one of the airships—garnering a few curious stares as well as eliciting a few chuckles towards them.

"L-Let go of me, you big dumb oaf!" she protested with a huge flush on her cheeks, hitting Tiella repeatedly on the face—though it didn't really do anything to stop her, "Fine! Fine! I'll join you already, just put me down, please! Stop further embarrassing me!"

Tiella gently sat her down one vacant seat before she took the one beside her, just in time for the airship to take off into Vale's airship docks.

"I feel _violated_ and _humiliated,_ " she said, hiding her face from view within her hands.

"I know you enjoyed it." she teased.

"I did not!"

"Sure you didn't."

" _I did not!_ "

"Whatever you say, Ice Queen."

"You insufferable oaf!"

"Thank you, I try."

"Argh!" she yelled in frustration, throwing her hands up in the air in resignation.

She noticed the morose expression back on Weiss' face, "Don't worry, Weiss." she said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "I'll make it worth your while." she said with a smile and a wink, which only further agitated Weiss.

"I _swear_ , Margory, _I will have you pay for your transgressions._ "

"Any time, Weissicle, any time," she said, leaning back on her chair with a relaxed sigh.

Weiss could find no words to voice out her frustrations, so the best she could do was her weapons-grade pout at Tiella. "Don't call me Weissicle! My name is Weiss or don't call me anything at all!"

"I think it's cute." she said, holding her chin as she tilted her head up to look down on Weiss with a smug smile, "And it's just as adorable as that little pout, too."

"I hate you so much," she said, resigned to burying her face in her hands once more. "What did I do to deserve this?"

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Thank you for reading another chapter of Lost Star! I hope you enjoyed this chapter._

 _And are hurray for over 100 Follows! Even the Favorites count is catching up just as quickly, too._

 _I'm not gonna bother apologizing for taking a while anymore. I don't wanna sound insincere with how I repeatedly apologize for it but not do something about it._

 _So, what do you guys think? I'm a little worried about whether everyone's gone way too out of character at this point, especially during this chapter. I'm hoping it isn't because rewriting this is gonna be a pain._

 _But it'll be a pain worth going through if it means I can get better at writing._

 _So give me your reviews, please! I appreciate any form of criticism._


	18. Chapter 18

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Surprise! I'm not dead yet! Nor have I forgotten this story._

 _Now, this isn't supposed to be an apology, but the reason I took much longer was that RE:2 Remake and DMC 5 existed._

 _Yes, I'm not sorry. I'm sure some of you are interested in at least one of them. I hope._

 _I don't really have anything really important to say here._

 _Please, carry on to chapter 18, thank you!_

* * *

It was a few hours past lunch already back at Glynda's apartment and she sat by her couch while leaning on one of the armrests. She wore a white V-neck sweater paired with light blue jeans in case she suddenly needed to step out.

 _"Was I too harsh?"_

She thought as she absentmindedly scrolled through her scroll, recalling what had happened this morning. She remembered the poker face Tiella kept up as she silently ate the breakfast she prepared for her. Had she not spent the past few days with her at all, she would have chalked up the lack of a reaction to Tiella not minding the dish she prepared for her.

 _"It was subtle but it was there."_

But since she had, she could tell with a little bit of effort that Tiella was surely bothered by something. Whether it was the food or something else, she wasn't quite sure, however. Perhaps she was regretting her actions?

 _"No. She did something irresponsible, so it is only right that she be held responsible for it."_

She focused back on her scroll for a few minutes before her hands stopped moving without her notice. She remembered that Tiella would be joining Peter in his Grimm hunt for his class.

 _"What if she ended up not having enough energy to fight back against a horde because of the breakfast I made her? Knowing her, there'll be a large pack likely to follow. I'm positive either of them can handle a pack of Beowolves alone but... but what if... No, no. She's a professional. She can handle herself."_

She lowered her scroll to her lap and remained pensive for a while, idly staring down at the coffee table in front of her. Her brows scrunched up slightly while a small pout appeared on her face before she shook her head lightly and went back to her scroll with a small huff through her nose.

 _"Maybe I should cook something she likes for dinner when she gets back? She says she loves my cooking but I'm not really sure which meal she likes the most."_

Suddenly an image of Tiella winking and smiling salaciously at her popped inside her head saying, 'How about _you,_ Glynda? You're the best _meal_ I've never had. _Yet._ '

Her brows scrunched up further and her lips pursed in frustration as a light blush appeared on her face at the thought. _"Stop being preposterous. She doesn't mean any of it! She's just acting like that because she's just a little lonely and I'm her first friend in this world! Don't let her get to you!"_

And then she remembered the time Tiella pinned her to a wall which caused an even heavier blush to flush on her cheeks. She closed her eyes and sighed, massaging her temple with her fingers.

"I need a breather—I can't work like this."

She put her scroll down on the coffee table before she stood and lightly stretched her arms and back—causing a few moderately loud popping sounds. She lightly tapped her shoulders a few times with a fist, feeling the stiffness of working days without decent exercise creeping up on her. While she's definitely one of the best Huntresses in Vale, she's not really one to exert herself physically. Her Semblance makes it so that she rarely ever needed to the same extent as most of her colleagues do. Knowing how to dodge minimally to conserve stamina was enough.

So, what does Glynda do to work out the kinks of short to long term physical inactivity?

She cleans the house, of course. Not to say that her house was particularly dirty at the moment—she just needed an excuse to move her body while staying productive. Normally, she'd prefer to just do it using her Semblance as she's quite the busy person even on her weekends—her last real break when she forgot about her work was last night and that was it. Just a night—and the one before that was weeks ago.

So, she grabbed her apron, a face mask, a handkerchief, a pair of white cloth gloves, and a utility belt to carry most of her small cleaning utensils. She wrapped the handkerchief over her head as a bandana to cover her hair from dust. And with a small huff through her nose, she began with dusting out her furniture starting from the top, making her way to the bottom. And from there, she worked her way into the other rooms.

After a few hours, she'd managed to clean the entire house save for Tiella's bedroom. She's a little hesitant to enter at first—not wanting to invade a roommate's privacy even if she owned the place—but she nonetheless stepped in after remembering that she never had the time to actually clean the room before Tiella came.

She stood by the door, taking the sight of Tiella's room in. Her bed was off to the left side of the door coming in. Right next to the bed is a small lamp table with a night lamp on it. Opposite the wall where the bed was close to was the sole window of her room. It had a milky white, half see-through curtain tied neatly to the sides, revealing a nice view much like the one in the veranda—a tree-lined sidewalk that was also alternate lined by high lamps, a view of the cliff just a ways off from the docks, and, depending on the time of day and weather, a distant silhouette of Vale's city proper. Just below the window, a little ways to the side was a modest study desk.

Other than those, there was the clothes-rack that she prepared for guests on the door and at the opposite end of the room was a big closet.

 _"I expected her to be a lot less tidy, but she's actually quite organized with her things."_

She glanced at the already made bed and was mildly surprised in a good way. She sent her eyes to the other end of her room where a small study desk was, finding nothing much but a few pieces of paper pinned under a few books. Curious to see what they were about, she walked over and read them.

 _"Ah, yes. Books on the basics of Dust and its uses as well as basics on Aura. And what of this paper? Ah, the schedule I wrote for her before she got her scroll, of course. I expected her to have thrown this away by now."_

She ran her index finger over the desk to check for dust. Not much, by the looks of it.

 _"Well, well. She knows to keep things neat and tidy. That's quite unexpected. If she's like this with all her things then I likely don't have much to do for cleaning in her room."_

She glanced around the room once more.

 _"Then again, it shouldn't be too hard to keep your room clean when you don't have a lot of things, to begin with."_

She went into a pensive mood as she idly rubbed the dust between her index finger and her thumb.

 _"She doesn't have a lot of things. She had nothing but the clothes on her back and the weapons on her person when she abruptly came."_

She crossed her arms and sent her eyes downcast.

 _"I wonder if she's still bothered about it—being forced to stay here and all. The method to return to her world—to her family and friends—is there... we just need one final key component to make it happen—but I doubt that even if we do have a maiden with us, Ozpin wouldn't have let her return so easily."_

She looked out the window with a blank look on her face.

 _"Does she still want to return to her world?"_

She lightly scoffed at her own thoughts, urging herself to go back to cleaning instead of just idly standing in her room.

 _"Of course she does. It's barely been a full week since she arrived. I'd bet it still feels surreal to her, too._

 _Because it's still quite surreal for me as well."_

"An otherworlder..." she muttered.

She focused on cleaning what little dirt Tiella had in her room for the next few minutes until she saw a small device on the lamp table right next to Tiella's bed. Curious to see what it was, she walked closer and picked it up in her hand. It was a small rectangular device that had a cord connecting it to an electrical socket.

 _"I believe this is the 'smartphone' she showed us yesterday and it appears to be charging, almost full, too. I suppose Peach managed to create the charger she asked for using spare parts in the forge, she's quite the engineer to be able to craft something like this for an item from another world. Why she never accepted that job offer to work in Atlas, I'll never know."_

She observed it in her hand, looking at it on all sides and noticed how the screen showed a small collection of pictures that slid on and off screen one by one every few seconds.

 _"Is it on screensaver mode? And these pictures..."_

She took a seat on the bed and curiously looked at the pictures on Tiella's smartphone for the next few minutes, just idly watching the pictures change from scenic shots to portraits and group photos until she accidentally tapped the screen on one photo to enlarge it, taking up the size of the entire screen.

 _"So, it had that function as well. I remember her saying she had two teammates before._

 _Lillianne and Bardel, I believe... and if I had to guess, this young girl with the long black hair and purple eyes is Lillianne. My, how beautiful... I think even Ms. Schnee would have a hard time beating this girl in the looks department. I wonder if this is an all natural beauty because I don't see any makeup... or is this just from filters in photo apps that kids these days love abusing?_

 _Wait, do they even have those in another world? I suppose with a so-called 'smartphone' like this one, it's likely that that's the case, too?_

 _This boy looks like a teenage Qrow but more buff, hot-headed, and stupid, based on what Tiella's told me about him. Like a typical jock, I suppose."_

She tapped on the photo a second time to put it back to its original size and slid her fingers to the side to enlarge another photo.

 _"I suppose I shouldn't be doing this but..."_

The thought was cut when the photo enlarged at full, revealing a happily smiling Tiella with a cigar bit between her teeth, flashing a peace sign with her arm hung over another girl's shoulders. The girl had long blonde hair in a low ponytail and clear blue eyes under thick, black, round-rimmed glasses—also smiling back at the camera while holding a cigar between her fingers, though in her case, she was a lot more photogenic.

 _"They seem quite close. Is this her family? I don't believe she's mentioned someone like her before... perhaps a girlfriend? If that's the case then would it be too unrealistic to think that she says she 'likes' me because I resemble her in some way?"_

She stood in front of the full body mirror in Tiella's closet to give herself a once-over, straightening her back to put emphasis on her chest.

 _"I mean, we both have blonde hair and wear round-rimmed glasses. And I suppose her bust is just as big if not a little smaller than mine."_

She eyed the girl's chest critically for a few seconds before she looked back at her reflection again, lightly huffing through her nose in approval with a very small smug grin on her face.

 _"I'm larger."_

She looked back at the photo again to get a better look at the girl's clothing to compare it to hers, or rather her usual look.

 _"She looks to be the more academic type between the two of them in that lab coat... and I'm a teacher. And we're both smaller than her. Well, I suppose a lot of people would be smaller than her. She stands just as if not a little bit taller than me even with my heels on. I'd estimate that she and Ozpin are the same height."_

She, once again, looked at herself in the mirror with a somewhat anxious look over her face.

 _"I hope she's not projecting this girl onto me. Even if she was serious about me not being a fling... I don't want to feel like a replacement for a lost lover."_

She shook her head as if to shake the thoughts away before she changed the photo on the screen.

 _"I shouldn't jump to conclusions. I shouldn't even be doing this in the first place! This is a clear invasion of another person's privacy! And yet... and yet, here I am still going through her album!"_

Frustrated with herself, she angrily slid the scenic photos off screen, leaving only pictures that focused mainly on people. She went through the available photos for a moment—searching for anything particularly interesting to view at full—until she saw a somewhat familiar group photo.

 _"This is..."_

She enlarged the picture—taking up the entire screen of the phone in the process—for a better view.

 _"I believe this was the photo I glimpsed at before she showed us the picture of the Grand Canyon."_

The photo showed a small group of eight people, all huddled together behind a small doused-out campfire and behind them were a few large tents—two on small chairs at the front, four on higher chairs in the middle, and a final two standing at the back. The first two were little girls, no older than the age of 12, she guessed. One of the girls had bright, red hair done in a low and loose twin braids while the other girl had blonde hair done in a short and messy bob cut.

 _"Tiella and the other girl, perhaps? The twin braids is a dead ringer for Tiella, that's for sure... and this blonde child looks exactly like the other girl from the previous photo."_

They both wore a mixture of dark green military fatigues, except they wore form-fitting, black T's for their tops instead. Tiella looked uncomfortable, awkwardly looking back at the camera while the blonde girl was smiling photogenically. Behind them were three older guys, looking like they were in their 30's and another woman short black hair, looking to be in her mid 20's at the time. At the far back, there was a middle-aged man who looked like the very picture of a war veteran. Even with a casual smile on his face, the ferocity in his eyes never faded away.

 _"He's like a picture of what an older version of Tiella would be like... was this person her mentor?"_

The person next to the middle-aged man was another woman who looked to be just a few years younger than him but looked just as fierce, if not more from the scowl on her face as she looked into the camera with a cigar on her lips.

 _"Actually, this person looks more like an older Tiella... maybe she had two mentors? They don't physically look like Tiella, just... reminds me of her. Wait, no. This man looks more like the usual, casual Tiella, while this lady looks like the angry Tiella. Though... I've never seen Tiella looking so angry on no more than two occasions."_

She reminded herself of their first time meeting each other and that one time before the meeting where she looked so visibly _incensed_ that she was hard to approach even for her, hence why she kept her distance by the door at the time.

 _"She said that it was because her opponent then insulted her mother. And that she would have likely killed her for it. A little extreme in my opinion, but I don't know Tiella's past enough to say so. I can only guess that she was particularly close with her mother, at least."_

She minimized the photo again and skimmed through her album once more for the next few minutes, seeing the same Tiella, Lillianne, Bardel, and the blonde girl in most of the photos with some other people that she couldn't recognize, which was completely understandable—these were people from another world.

 _"The more I look at these photos, the more intriguing the girl gets. Just who is Tiella Margory?"_

She spent the next hour just idly going through her album and she was surprised to note that there were a _lot_ of photos—thousands, she'd guess. While skimming through the photos, she'd accidentally tapped on a button on the lower part of the screen that caused the screensaver to turn off, revealing a set of numbers to unlock the phone and the background photo—a girl with fair skin and freckles adorning her face, short red hair brushed to the side, and a pair of almond-shaped, gold eyes. She wore a military uniform with stars and badges she couldn't recognize and she stood next to a taller man wearing the same military uniform but with more stars and badges. He had short blonde hair brushed to the side as well, and a fierce pair of clear blue eyes, and a stubble.

 _"Are these..?"_

"Those were-"

" _Dear Oum-_ " surprised, she turned her body abruptly to face the door that was then open with Tiella leaning on the door frame with a wry smile on her face, holding a plastic bag on one hand.

"-Elena S. Valmary and Rudolph A. Margory." she finished, amused that she managed to surprise her.

"I bought beer and donuts," she said, raising her hand that held the bag, making a few soft clunking sounds of tin cans lightly bumping into each other. "I left the donuts on the table though. I remember how you drank beer more than anything else last night, so I figured this is probably your favorite or something."

"I'm-" she started anxiously.

"I'm not mad." she cut in immediately with a clear voice. "But next time, you gotta ask permission if you wanna look at my photos, first. And yes, my full name, as much as I think it doesn't fit my image, is _Celestiella Valmary Margory._ "

"I see... thank you," she said. She stayed silent for a short moment, looking back at the background photo with a blank look on her face. "You said 'were'."

"Yep." popping the 'p'. "'Cause that was taken before they got married."

"O-Oh." relieved to hear that it wasn't like she'd thought.

"But, yeah, they're both dead, too."

"..."

"Oh, don't give me that look. I'm over it," she said with a wave of her hand. "Come on, we can talk over beer and donuts."

Glynda silently nodded as she stood. She left the smartphone back on the lamp table before following Tiella into the living room.

"Don't you wanna see more photos?" Tiella asked.

"I-Is it okay?" she asked meekly, "I'm sorry, I was just so curious and-"

"Yeah, totes."

"T-Thank you," she said, hurriedly unplugging the smartphone off the charger before she quickly returned to the living room.

"What's all this for?" she asked, eyeing the dozen and a half cans of beer and a big box of donuts.

"Well... I wanted to properly apologize for, y'know... _last night._ " she said meekly, playing with her thumbs.

"So, you wanted to apologize for getting drunk."

"Yes."

"By getting things that can get you drunk."

"Yyyyyyeeaaahh-I didn't think this through, did I?"

"Evidently."

"Yeah..."

They stayed quiet for a moment, sharing in awkward silence as Glynda looked between Tiella and the cans of beer while Tiella idly played with the tip of her braids.

 _"She's usually so ingenious, if not downright insane, at handling things. Yet right now she's as meek as a student that just got called to the principal's office."_ she thought, crossing her arms in contemplation. _"I suppose she's not used to apologizing to someone sincerely?"_ She also remembered that she had work to do that she left alone and that she technically still wasn't finished cleaning Tiella's room—her fault, she knew.

 _"But then again..."_ she looked back at the girl, still squirming a little under her gaze where she stood. _"...she's making an effort to make up with me. That's sincere."_

She sighed, uncrossing her arms to put one hand on her hip. "Fine."

"Ho my god, tha-"

"But _only_ if you control yourself," she said sternly, giving Tiella a critical glare.

"I will!"

* * *

 _A few cans of beers later..._

"I _lied!_ " she cried, "I'm _not_ over it!"

"There, there," she said, running a gentle hand on Tiella's back in circles.

"I still wanna see my mom!"

"It's okay, I understand."

"I still wanna ride my dad's shoulders!"

"I know, I know."

"I wanna see my sister, too!"

Surprised, she asked, "You have a sister?"

"Yeah," she replied, wiping the snot off her nose with tissue from the tissue box Glynda prepared. "Her name's Merga, 6 years older than me—went missing a couple years back just after my parents fucked off the world of the living."

"I'm... I'm really sorry to hear that," she said, not really knowing what to say when she knew full well that Tiella didn't take kindly to being pitied.

"It's not like I'm worried about her, though," she said, slowly twirling can on the table with her finger as she leaned on the table all dejected. "She can take care of herself easy."

They remained quiet for the next few moments, Tiella remembering her younger days with her family while Glynda worried over what to say to the girl. Not really wanting to spend any more time on a pity party, Glynda spoke on a different topic.

"How was your day?" she asked, taking a small sip from her own can of beer.

"Huh?" surprised, the question taking Tiella out of her daydream. She lazily sat up, leaning on the backrest of the couch as she thought about her day with pursed lips. A few scant seconds of thought later, she softly chortled to herself, earning a curious brow from Glynda.

"In a word... it was _interesting,_ to say the least."

"That's more than one word."

"Shush."

Glynda only rolled her eyes in response.

"See, Weiss needed help with something."

"Ms. Schnee?"

"Yep, and it's apparently something she couldn't speak to her team about. She couldn't even say anything remotely understandable whenever she tried to tell me about it in the beginning. So, I took her downtown to take her mind off of it."

* * *

 _4 o'clock pm in the middle of downtown Vale..._

"So, Weiss..."

"Yes, Margory?"

"Pfft... 'Margory' she says..." she snickered, "If you're gonna call me all distant and formal like that then you better call me Ms. Margory because I'm staff."

She glared back, actually considering her words as she was technically correct. It's amazing how a simple thing such as a small age gap made her forget that she's speaking to a person of authority. _"And yet it's not as if she acts the part. She only mentions she's staff whenever it's convenient for her. The audacity of this girl- woman- whatever! At least I know that she's no lady!"_

"Also, I'm, like, a year older than you."

She added a pout to her glare before she spoke again, "When exactly is your birthday anyway?" looking back in front of her. "I only know that you're older, but I don't think any of us know how much older you are for sure."

Tiella looked back to the road with a casual smile on her face, immediately thinking on converting her birthday to Remnant's standards—not that it was particularly hard. "18th of the 5th month, 1196."

"18th of th-... that's _yesterday!_ "

* * *

"It was _yesterday!?_ " Glynda yelled, "Why didn't you tell me!? We could have celebrated with the others!"

"Relaaax, G," Tiella said, lightly poking Glynda on the nose which caused her to pout cutely. "I already got my party."

"But that was just a welcome party—you're 19 now!"

"And it was a _damn_ nice welcome party."

"B-"

"Shush!" she cut in, placing a finger on Glynda's lips, "I'm telling a story!"

"Okay..." she said, backing off for a bit.

* * *

"I'm _jokiiin'._ " she grinned, watching Weiss' expression quickly change from a half-pleasant half-worried surprise to a twitching eye, a crooked half smile half scowl with her mouth hanging slightly agape, and scrunched up eyebrows. _"That's quite the expression."_ she thought, her grin growing bigger.

"Confound you, _Ms. Margory,_ " she said with an exasperated shake of her head and a roll of her eyes, crossing her arms and focusing back on the road in front of her.

* * *

"Of course you'd joke about it." she sighed, "Poor Ms. Schnee, stuck with you on her Saturday afternoon," she said with a pitying shake of her head.

"Hey! She asked for _my_ help!" she replied, indignant.

"A poor choice, clearly."

"Do you wanna know about my day or not?" slightly irritated, she shot Glynda a small pout.

"Alright, I'll stay quiet for now—comments later."

"No, wait- sorry. That wasn't right," she said, raising her palm in front of Glynda, earning her a confused brow. "This is a lovely-"

"Really? I didn't know _._ " she scoffed, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

"-drunken conversation-" she continued, uninterrupted.

"You're the only one who's drunk."

"-between two people who are more than friends-"

"Oh, _really?_ "

"-but less than lovers."

"What's your point?" she asked, ignoring the comment about their supposed relationship.

"The point is—you can interrupt whenever. We're supposed to be chillin' and drinkin' here! Also, don't forget the donuts."

"Is that right?" she said, grabbing one donut to put on a small plate for herself later on.

"Yup!" she said, popping the 'p'. She pulled her knee closer to her, hugging with her left while her right she put atop it so she could lay her head on it—all to give Glynda a relaxed smile.

Glynda stared back at her, noticing that it was a slightly different smile compared to the dozens of casual smiles she'd seen from her. Her face was flushed from the alcohol and her expression was gentle—as if the front she always wore was taken off at that moment.

It caught Glynda off guard, making her look away for a moment. _"Did that really just happen?"_ she doubted, so she looked back to her once more. And there she saw Tiella cheekily grinning at her—the soft and gentle smile all but disappeared.

"Was my dear Glynda-wynda embawwassed just nooow?" she teased.

"You're drunk." she retorted, "You're already seeing things wrong."

"I know I'm drunk but I can tell you that I'll definitely remember everything up to this part here."

Indignant, she huffed before looking away, hiding the very faint blush from Tiella's view—one that she wished was due to the alcohol. "Just get on with your story." Grabbing her fourth can of beer—the refreshing sound of a newly opened can of beer resounding lightly.

Tiella chuckled, searching for her can to idly twirl it on the table with her finger again. "Anyway..."

* * *

"It was a joke, though."

"You said that already."

"I mean, my joke was a joke."

"Wha- I'm sorry? What?" she asked, looking back at her in complete incredulity.

"I said my joke was a joke," she repeated bluntly.

"Please, clarify or so help me I will go back to Beacon right this moment."

"Alright, alright! Let's calm!"

Weiss said nothing as she crossed her arms, impatiently waiting for Tiella to explain herself.

"I'm saying my birthday really was yesterday."

"You're serious." she doubted, eyeing Tiella's casual gaze incredulously.

"Yup." she said, popping the 'p' like she usually does.

"Have you told anyone?"

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Does it matter?" she asked, her tone remaining casual, never giving away any hint of irritation or any sign that meant it could be a sensitive subject for her.

 _"Does she truly believe it doesn't matter?"_ she thought. It was certainly odd to her—she'd never met anyone that gave no value to their date of birth. She'd met people that _didn't_ like their birthdays because of personal reasons but never someone that _didn't_ care either way.

Tiella caught Weiss' puzzled staring at the edge of her sight and softly laughed. "Is it that much of a shock to you?"

"I-" she stuttered, realizing that she'd been staring awfully longer than she'd like to admit. "I'm sorry." she looked back on the road with downcast eyes, choosing the right words to say. "I was just wondering... if it was a sensitive subject and you've just grown used to people asking about it for you to speak about it casually."

"It's fine, it's nothing like that," she reassured. "It's just that I've rarely ever celebrated my birthday as far as I can remember."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the most I get on the day itself is usually a large cheeseburger with large fries and soda on the side—aside from a few greetings, of course," she said, remembering past birthdays spent with her old Merc group.

 _"Hard to get anything actually celebration-worthy like a cake when I'm always on the road or in the middle of some stinkin' forest. Even the drinks sucked—like, who fuckin' serves a kid lukewarm canned beer? Fuckin' cunts, the lot of 'em."_ She thought back to the people in her old group. She was annoyed for sure, but she could never truly hate them. _"It's why I love the food here! God, everything's so damn good. And Glynda's home cooked meals are just the absolute best. I miss it already."_

"I see," Weiss replied, entering a pensive mood as she thought over Tiella's words.

They both stayed silent for a few, simply walking along the pavement on the winding streets of Vale. Originally, Tiella wanted Weiss to guide her through Vale but as it turned out, she, too, was new to the city as she originally hailed from Atlas. So, instead, Tiella suggested they just walk around town—find someplace she can do some window shopping or something else.

* * *

"Are you truly fine with just the welcome party?" Glynda asked after a sip.

"Yes, G. I am," she said with a wave of her hand, noticing the unsure look she was getting. "Really!"

Glynda remained silent, only staring back at Tiella with a doubtful look. "It was more for all of us and not just for you, you realize that, right?"

"I'm being serious," she said, a wry smile on her face. "And besides, I don't think I have the right to celebrate another party after what I did the last time we did."

"Well..." she paused, idly twirling the can in her hand as she stared at it for a few seconds before she sipped, looking back to Tiella sulkily. "If you say so."

"Thanks, Glynda. I didn't think anyone'd care about it, honestly."

"What's not normal is to _not_ care about it."

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

"What about you, Weiss?"

"Huh?" she said, snapped out of her thoughts.

"When's your birthday?"

"Oh." she said, "It's the 5th of the 12th."

 _"December 5 then..."_ she converted mentally, "'97?"

"'98."

"Guess that makes me two years older," she said, thinking back to her own supposed Remnant calendar birth date. _"If it was December 2018 back in my old world... and it's May 1215 here... Am I actually 2 years older than them? Wait, no. I'm confused... Whatever, I just know I'm older."_

* * *

"If it was 2018 in your world and you were 18 already coming here, and the 5th really is your birthday, then you'd be 19 like you said."

"I guess so, huh," she said, tilting her head in thought. "Doesn't feel like I'm 19."

"You skipped at least a few months forward, didn't you?"

"Yeah, we basically have the same calendar system, only ours had names."

"What are they called?"

"In order—January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December."

"So, yours is on the 18th of May?"

"That's right."

"Curious."

"Weird. Anyway, you said yours isn't around for another 3 months, right?"

"Yes, it's on the 24th of the 8th month."

"So..." doing quick mental math, "August 24... and you said you're 32?"

"Yes. What of it?"

"Doesn't look like you're 32."

"What are you implying?"

"I'm just sayin'."

"Are you implying I look older than I am? You did _incorrectly_ guess that I'd be 40 last night."

"You look so stressed, Glynda! I'm _worried_ about you!"

"Don't lie to my face."

"I'm not lying. Just sayin' you could look a little younger if you loosen up a bit? Girls should worry about their looks, right?"

"Says the _girl_ wearing cargo pants for casual clothes."

"My tank top gives me enough sex appeal," she said, crossing her arms to specifically emphasize her bust. "See?"

"Is that a challenge?" she said, simply puffing out her chest with her hands on her waists.

"If it gets you to put your tits on my face, then yes," she said, openly ogling Glynda's Glyndas.

She slapped Tiella hard, leaving a glowing red, hand-shaped mark on her left cheek. "You're shameless."

Tiella said nothing, only grinning back at Glynda while blood trailed down her nostril. Exasperated with Tiella's actions and reactions, Glynda sighed, pulling out a piece of tissue, leaning over to wipe at Tiella's nose—much to her _pleasant_ surprise. "Anyway, what are the basis for those names?"

"Names?" she asked, snapping out of her mildly pleasant surprise from Glynda immediately taking care of her—and the wonderful view, of course.

"The names of the months in your world," she said, sending Tiella's head far back with a heavy flick on her forehead. "And don't think I don't see you still ogling me."

"Not sure either," she replied, gently rubbing her sore forehead, ignoring Glynda's accusations—guilty as she was already. "but from what I know, it's from a dead language that uses the numbers 1-10 in ordinal fashion."

"10?" she queried, thinking back to the names Tiella gave her. "But weren't there 12 names you gave me?"

"Some dicks from a couple hundred years ago decided they wanted months named after themselves, so they inserted January and February to the beginning, I think? I dunno, I'm probably wrong about that—too much information for shit I don't really care about. I'd tell you to look it up yourself but you'd have to go to my world to do that first."

"Uh huh..."

"Anyway, where was I?"

"Ms. Schnee's birthday."

"Right, right."

* * *

"I suppose you are," Weiss said in affirmation.

"And you're still 16."

"That's correct."

Tiella hummed in thought, "I guess that means you still have around a year and a half to get those 3 inches, Weissicle. Good luck with that."

"Wha-" she stammered, "I- I know I will! And stop calling me Weissicle!" she retorted, to which Tiella happily ignored.

"Don't ignore me!"

They remained silent once more in their walk, idly looking around the buildings and the dozens of faces they couldn't recognize as they passed by. As they walked, Tiella noticed Weiss' expression changed ever so slightly at the sight of certain types of people looking back at her. Her eyes would subtly squint and the scowl on her face would harden almost imperceptibly.

Was it a good thing that Tiella was trained to observe the tiniest changes in detail in this case? She wasn't quite sure of it herself, but she was sure that it only ever happened when she met eyes with faunus people in general.

 _"Is she actually racist like her father is?"_ she thought warily, careful not to change the expression she'd learned to keep up. She'd remembered briefly hearing about the Schnee Dust Company on the radio, specifically on talks of the CEO.

 _"'Questionable business practices and dangerously unhygienic working conditions', was it?"_ she remembered from the talks. _"Though she never looked affronted by Velvet. Either she's that good an actress or there's something else... I need to watch her more."_

Her casual gaze would stay in front of her for the most part but she never focused on one thing. She took the whole scene in front of her in, avoiding tunnel vision, making sure she could also keep a very discreet eye on the person next to her.

 _"What makes Weiss Schnee tick off?"_ she thought, sending another casual glance over at Weiss' general direction. She noticed Weiss looked pensive again, likely thinking back to her own problem from before. _"Guess I should take her mind off of it again."_

"Hey, Weissicle."

"Yes, Ms. Margory?" she responded, clearly annoyed.

"You hungry?"

"Not particularly, no."

"But you still have enough room for a few snacks, right?"

"Snacks in my serving or yours? Because I know how much you eat, Ms. Margory. And I doubt that your two... _monster bread mishmash_ from before were enough to actually satiate the worm in that tummy of yours."

"Hey, it's why I'm this big."

"Keep bragging, why don't you?"

"I will, don't worry."

"I was being facetious?"

She grinned, placing a hand on Weiss' head, messing up her fringes in the process. "I know."

"Stop that!" she yelled, swatting Tiella's hand away with her own, "Don't touch me!"

"Anyway,"

"Stop ignoring my protests!"

"let's grab a bite."

She sighed in exasperation, ready to just turn around and walk back to Beacon, but she did understand what Tiella was trying to do for her. "I didn't bring my wallet with me."

"Did you forget? I said it's my treat."

She crossed her arms, "And where do you propose we get snacks?"

"When you're new to a city, it's always best to try the local food stands."

Affronted by the idea, "Excuse me?" Weiss looked at her incredulously.

"What? Too afraid to try the local cuisine of the commoners, your highness?"

" _Excuse me?_ "

"You too good for food stands, is that it, my dear mistress Weissicle?" she teased even further. "I guess Lady Schnee's delicate palette and stomach is too _weak_ to take in the greasy goodness of commoner food."

"..."

"I'm betting just the smell of greasy, smoked and grilled barbecue on sticks is gonna make you nauseous, you _big baby_."

"..."

"Oh, _wait._ " she snickered, "You're not that _big,_ are you?"

"How dare you..!" shaking in anger, " _HOW DARE_ _YOU!_ "

Angrily, she stomped over to Tiella with tightly clenched fists, "I keep quiet out of respect because you're _supposed_ to be my _senior_ but you keep _falsely_ insinuating that I'm _weak!_ " she yelled, marching closer to her, tip-toeing as she pointed her finger at Tiella's nose aggressively.

"Well, you're obviously _wrong!_ You don't _know_ me! You don't know _what_ I've been through! And I won't let some _dumb, walking lamppost_ tell _me_ what I _can_ and _can't_ eat based on such... _baseless_ stereotypes from _stupid fantasy children's books_ about the poor and the wealthy!"

Tiella remained silent as she looked down on her—simply grinning wider and wider as Weiss kept raining down her complaints at her.

"You want me to eat street foods with you? _Fine!_ We'll eat your _disgusting, greasy, unhygienic, poisonous,_ and also _cheap as hell_ street foods! Food poisoning and all, I will have you treat me until I'm satisfied!"

* * *

Glynda sighed, downing a small bite of her donut with a gulp of her beer. "Why are you the way you are?"

"Psh," Tiella lightly scoffed, "you say that like you don't love me when it's obvious that you do."

Glynda could only roll her eyes in response.

* * *

"Perfect!" Tiella beamed, instantly taking Weiss by the wrist,

"Let go of me, you brute!" much to her chagrin—dragging her to the nearest food stand they could find. Luckily for them, they were just a turn away from the shopping district where there was a great variety of food stands to choose from.

Tiella smiled wide and nodded her head in praise of the sight before her. Weiss on the other hand...

"See, Weissy..."

...looked like she was just about ready to bolt away—if she could, at least. Tiella's vise-grip on her wrist wasn't painful in any way but it was nearly physically impossible for her to escape from it. She contemplated using her Semblance to get away, though she doubted that she could escape far even if she did get away.

"...I've yet to eat anything in Vale that made me think I'd never wanna eat it again."

"I'm suddenly worried for my stomach," she said, repulsed by the idea of going through the smoke-filled street.

"So, here we are, in what I'd like to call the holy grail of cheap and delicious food."

"You speak like you've been here before."

"I haven't."

"Then, how can you even be so sure?"

"In my experience, street food is where you find most of the local cuisine which makes it the best way to know whether you'll like the food here or not," she said, before gently dragging Weiss through the stalls.

"I've been wondering..." she started, half-reluctantly following along as she was pulled.

"Yeah?" eyeing each stall carefully, looking for anything interesting.

"...why does it look like you're so obsessed with food?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, walking over to a Calamari stall. While the stall sold Calamari, it also sold other things such as fresh fruit juice and chicken hot shots. Waiting for Weiss to speak up, she ordered two small servings of the calamari and hot shots, both with two different separate sauces, and two cold and fresh melon juices in medium sized paper cups.

"It's just that I've never seen anyone eat so much other than Nora."

"Okaaay..?" she drawled, not truly understanding her point. She handed one of each to Weiss, to which Weiss hesitantly accepted. "Why is Nora an exception?"

"Because she's Nora."

"Makes sense." she lead them to a part of the long and wide street that had fewer people moving about so they could both eat in peace. "That make you think I'm a glutton or something?"

"Yes," she replied curtly, walking beside Tiella.

"Well, you're not wrong," she stated bluntly. "I was always on the road for most of my life and I've never really had a place to call home where I can settle down and come back to. Actually... you could even say the road _was_ my home, now that I think about it."

Weiss quietly listened as they sat down an empty bench, placing their food between them.

"Aside from the occasional Grimm contracts, nearly every odd job I took paid worth shit. And the Grimm contracts also depended on the type of Grimm I'll be hunting. A pack of Beowolves messing with a nearby village? 100 Lien. A Deathstalker settled down a nearby cave down the river where the folks catch fish for a living? 150 Lien. That's the average price, by the way, but that doesn't mean it'll always be that much. Some guys are so dirt fuckin' cheap they think 50 Lien is enough for a big pack of Beowolves and its friggin' Alpha."

 _"Man, I'm one good liar."_ she thought as she looked at Weiss intently listening to her. _"Well, not like they're complete lies. Just gotta tweak it a little to make sense in this world."_

"So, how does a 12-year-old unlicensed huntress upstart make ends meet? I buy the cheapest, blandest, dirt food I can find while I find a place near village outskirts to camp out on—just so I can tell myself I have savings."

"Why couldn't you just forage food in the forests if that's the case?"

"And either run into predators or get myself killed because I didn't know the plant I was eating was poisonous? That's only a good idea if I knew which was which. Also, it's one thing to hunt Grimm and it's another to hunt fresh meat and preserve it. But mostly, I didn't do it because I don't know how to cook even if it's to save my life."

"But didn't you mention that you had a mentor before? Did they not take care of you?"

"He did for a while, but he told me I should learn to manage my own money—be my own big girl. So, when he deemed me worthy of taking jobs on my own, he forced me to become responsible for everything I own and do."

"That sounds a little extreme."

"In retrospect, it probably is... but it's what made me who I am today and I wouldn't have it any other way." she grinned, finishing the last of her calamari before she moved on to her chicken hot shots.

Weiss stayed contemplative, slowly beginning to understand her as a person.

"And when I landed a _stable_ job at Beacon, I couldn't be any happier!"

 _"Not really. I remember being pissed as hell at Ozpin, but we've already gone over that bridge, so we're good now."_

"I get decent income and nearly everything in the school facility is free for me to use. Which means I could actually splurge a lot of my money on delicacies. Am I really gonna pass something like that up?"

"No, of course not." Weiss smiled knowingly.

" _No,_ of course _not!_ " she repeated, "That's why you gotta start eating that Calamari before it gets cold."

"Ugh... I don't understand the connection between this and your story but... _ugh._ " her somewhat pleasant mood from before had instantly turned sour at the reminder that she had to eat such an _oil fiesta_ as this particular food Tiella bought for her. But she's already accepted it... even if she'd been baited into it in retrospect. _"I can't believe I let her bait me into this! Why couldn't I think things through!?"_

* * *

"Is that why you keep saying you like my cooking?"

"Aside from the fact they're actually very delicious?"

"Flattery won't get you anywhere with me."

"Did you just give me a piece of advice on how to date you?"

"..."

"Is that a yes?"

Glynda didn't answer. She only drank her beer and ate her donut.

"Geez, Glynda, you're such a tease."

Glynda remained silent, only grabbing another donut which she threw in Tiella's general direction. Seeing as the donut wouldn't hit her, Tiella jumped from her seat and over the table, catching the flying donut with her mouth—spinning in the air once before landing with a fist and a knee on the floor with her head hung low for dramatic effect, very much like a superhero landing. A second later, she abruptly raised her head, flashing Glynda a big grin and a thumbs up.

Glynda could only stare blankly at the sudden show.

Tiella stood upright with her arms high in the air, a welcoming gesture. "Femyu, femyu!" she said, donut still in her mouth, waving her hands around as if there was an audience before her other than Glynda. Afterward, she did an exaggerated bow towards Glynda before taking the seat beside her once more.

Finishing up the whole donut in one large bite, she downed it with the rest of her beer—releasing a refreshed 'ahh', loudly slamming her empty can on the table before speaking again. "Anyway..."

"You're really just gonna continue like nothing happened, huh?" she sipped.

* * *

Tiella watched in eager anticipation as Weiss slowly and shakily moved a small piece of Calamari to her lips. Weiss held the Calamari between two fingers, very disgusted at the thought of holding something so greasy and oily—and here she was, _actually doing it!_

Centimeters—it was just a scant few centimeters away from her lips...

"If I die from this, I'm making you responsible for it." when she pulled it away abruptly.

"If you eat this I'm gonna stop calling you Ice Queen."

And in less than a second, the Calamari was out of her hands and inside her mouth. She closed her eyes and scrunched up her brows, slowly chewing and crunching on it, putting a modest hand over her lips.

"Weeell..?" Tiella asked in amusement.

After a few seconds of hesitant chewing, she chewed normally with a few small nods of her head, eventually swallowing and downing it with a bit of her melon juice. She gently wiped her lips with a handkerchief that she kept on her.

"It was..." she began, searching for the right words to describe what she'd just eaten.

"Yeees..?"

"...not as bad as I thought." she finished curtly.

"Really, Weiss?" she tossed a hot shot into her mouth after dipping it in the spicy marinara, "Admit it, you loved it."

"It's edible." she retorted.

"Weiss, that's your 3rd one already."

"Y-You said it would be a waste to let it go cold before I ate them!" she said, somehow still gracefully munching on the rest of her Calamaris.

She grinned wide, "Try dipping it in one of the sauces."

"Which one would you recommend first?" she asked as if she was almost eager.

"The white one, lemon-garlic aioli, I think is what it's called."

Weiss did as told and dipped about a quarter of one Calamari into the aioli and took a modest bite of it. She beamed at the taste and it didn't take her long to finish it—all the while, she was softly moaning in delight. As soon as she was finished, she was already licking her fingers clean. Tiella's smug grin somehow grew even wider as she quietly munched and watched. It wasn't until Weiss was already sucking on her third finger when she noticed the look Tiella was giving her.

"Sure is _edible,_ ain't it?"

Like a deer caught in the headlights, Weiss looked back at her wide-eyed before she remembered that she still had a finger in her mouth—to which she very quickly removed and wiped with her hankie.

"I-I-It was... uhm, _edible._ Yes, edible," she replied curtly, a faint blush adorning her cheeks.

"The spicy marinara is pretty good, too, if you wanna try it," she said, idly tossing another hot shot into her mouth.

Weiss, again, did as told and tried the spicy marinara. When she took a bite after dipping it modestly, she was surprised at first by the sudden heat of it, but eventually, the heat subsided and it spread a delicious savory flavor in her mouth. They both silently ate through the rest of their food, finishing up with their drinks.

"Alright, Weiss. A deal's a deal. I'll stop calling you Ice Queen."

"Thank goodness." relieved, she let a small proud smile appear on her face.

"So, let's take a walk, Weissicle."

" _Of course..._ " and the smile was quickly replaced by a scowl.

* * *

"How exactly were you helping Ms. Schnee?"

"I took her mind off of it."

"And you believe that helped?"

"Yyyyeeup. Don't worry, I'm about to get to that."

"Hmm. Sure took your time."

"You did ask for my day, not how I helped Weiss. Want the short version instead, then?"

"No, no. Carry on as you have."

"Alright, so... Weiss and I were talking a walk in the shopping district again..."

* * *

"How are you still eating?" Weiss asked, incredulously eyeing the amount of barbecue on sticks Tiella bought for her to eat on their walk.

"With my mouth, _duh?_ " Tiella teased as she ate.

"I will _slap_ you."

"You're not the first and you definitely won't be the last."

"Why are you proud of this?"

Tiella put her arm over Weiss' shoulder—to which Weiss tried in vain to shake off—held her palm out and slowly waved it from one side to another in front of her for dramatic effect as she talked. "I like to make sure I get a rise out of people I meet." she snapped her fingers at Weiss, pointing at her as she continued, "It's how I know I'll get along with them or not." she grinned.

"Why are you the way you are?" she asked sincerely.

* * *

Glynda snickered, "Don't you know it, Ms. Schnee. Don't you know it..."

"I have a feeling you two would've been good friends if you were the same age."

"Hardly." she scoffed, "I know someone just like her who's around my age and we don't really get along well."

"Oh?"

"Story for another time."

"Alright, fine."

* * *

"I just am, Weissicle."

"You insufferable-"

"You already called me that." she cut in, "Anyway, want a bite?"

She angrily eyed the barbecue stick offered to her as if she was offended by it and not the one holding it. "No."

"You might like iiit~" she teased in a sing-song tone.

"I'm already full, thank you very much," she said, crossing her arms.

"Just a bite."

"No."

"Come on, Weissy."

"Stop giving me stupid nickna-" she protested but it was cut short as she choked on a small piece of barbecue that Tiella flicked right into her mouth as she was talking.

"Whoah, there." Tiella moved to Weiss, placing a placating hand on her back—gently patting her back massaging it up and down. "Didn't mean to do that. Sorry, my bad."

"' _Sorry!?',_ Y-You could have killed me!"

"You know, death by barbecue isn't that bad when I think about it happening to me," she said, actually considering it as one of her top ten ways to die.

"I still have a lot to live for!"

"Don't worry, Weissy, I know first aid!"

"That doesn't excuse your reckless beha-"

"So, how'd it taste?"

Weiss fumed through her nose, wanting nothing more than to grab the barbecue sticks and stab Tiella with them in multiple areas but instead she tried calming herself down. Deciding that taking more of her baits would only lead to an aneurysm, she answered Tiella's query after a few deep breaths.

"They're fine. Sweet, juicy, and savory but a little too oily for my taste," she replied curtly.

"That's a shame," she said, eating the rest of her barbecue on her own.

They walked some more and eventually found themselves in front of a small confectionery store called 'Sweet Lightning'. Tiella looked at the displays in front of the shop, eyeing every piece curiously.

"You're _still_ hungry?" Weiss asked in incredulity.

"No, not really," she answered, not taking her eyes off the displays. "I sorta _mega-pissed_ Glynda off earlier and I'm trying to find a way to make up... but I'm not sure if she's a fan of sweets because the last time I made her something to drink, she said it was too sweet."

* * *

"So, you bought donuts."

"Did you not like them..?" she asked warily, afraid that it wasn't enough for them to make up.

"They're fine. I'm not a fan of sweets like you guessed but I can at least appreciate that you're trying."

"So... are we good now?"

"Yes, we're 'good now'."

"Great."

"And... well... I suppose I also did something bad to you by looking at your photos without permission... not that that should make us even or anything."

"Ah, yeah. I guess you did that, huh? I did say I wasn't mad. But, anyway..."

* * *

"You had a fight with Professor Goodwitch?"

"Not really..? I did something retarded and... y'know... surprise, surprise! She was massively pissed. Made me eat peanut butter on dried sardines for breakfast."

Weiss was visibly off-put at the idea, mixing peanut butter with dried sardines.

"I know, right?" she nodded at Weiss' disgusted expression knowingly, "And I don't really know how to make up with someone. Usually, I'd just give them a drink or duke it out in a spar and call it even but... I just don't think this time should be settled the same way, you know? But I'm at my wit's end here... I really don't know what to do."

"I see," she responded contemplatively. _"So, we're the same."_

She thought back to this morning when she'd inadvertently thrown hurtful words at Ruby—much to everyone's dismay. It made her anxious just thinking about it again, but somehow, knowing that she wasn't alone in her dilemma made it a little easier to bear.

Weiss watched as Tiella worriedly looked over the displays, impatiently tapping her foot on the pavement while holding her chin in deep thought. She heard her talking to herself, something about 'getting something sweet but not too sweet' hoping it'd work.

"Or I could get a pack of beer and share it with her?" Tiella muttered softly. "She likes beer."

* * *

"And you said that in front of my student."

"Iiiiiiiit was an accident?"

"..."

"Please, don't kill me?"

She sighed, waving her can dismissively, "Just forget about it. I'll talk to Ms. Schnee when I get the chance."

"If it makes you feel better, Weiss didn't really care and pretty much expected you to have some way to de-stress. Drinks included."

"I see."

* * *

Weiss idly looked at the displays as well as she thought back on how to even approach Ruby. It was hard for her, for some odd reason—the bubbly girl was the very picture of approachable yet somehow, it felt to her like her cheerful smiles and modest waves was her way of saying _'we can still be friends but stay at least that far away from me from now on'_ and it felt like a stake was being driven through her heart because of it.

 _"Have I truly become attached to them? Is that why I'm hurting so much over this? Is this normal?"_

Tiella noticed Weiss looking a little pensive as well, so she called out to her. "Hey, Weiss."

"Yes, Ms. Margory?" she responded offhandedly, mind still stuck on apologizing to Ruby and consequently, the rest of her team.

"Why don't we go inside?" she offered.

"Very well."

Weiss followed Tiella inside the confectionery store and immediately they were greeted by an almost pervasive scent of sweets carried by the cold air conditioning. _"Ruby would love it here. I can already imagine her drooling over everything. She's such a sweets mania-"_

And it was there when a thought struck her. _"Of course..."_ she stood by one of the aisles in wide-eyed realization. She looked for Tiella through the aisles, luckily the store was fairly small so it only took her a matter of seconds to find her.

"Tiella," Weiss called, causing Tiella to smile at her knowingly. She invited her over to her as she carried a small basket of donuts in her arm.

"Ready to talk about it?" she asked, putting her empty hand on her waist.

"Yes," she responded resolutely.

"Great, let me just pay for this and we can talk on the way back. Unless you want something here, too? I can pay."

Weiss thought the offer over for a second, "No, I'm fine, thank you. I have something else in mind."

"Alrighty then. I'll be back in a minute." she waved.

Weiss watched Tiella line up at the register where she saw a female deer faunus manning it. She stared at her blankly for a few until the cashier lady met eyes with her, to which she'd reflexively stiffened up her expression which in turn made the cashier lady stiffen up as well before they both avoided eye contact with each other.

Tiella caught the cashier lady's reaction and wondered what could have been the possible reason for it. She casually looked back at Weiss, noticing the stiff expression and abrupt avoidance.

 _"Well, well... looks like she's more of the reactive type. She also didn't look as affronted as she did when we were walking in town. Why is that?"_

As she was about to go next, she called out to Weiss. "Hey, Weiss."

"Yes, Tiella?"

"Can you help me pick which flavor would be nice? I want something sweet but not too sweet."

Weiss warily looked between Tiella, the cashier lady, and the rack of candies beside Tiella before she walked over, grabbed a random snack, and put it in Tiella's basket. "There," she said, staying beside Tiella on the line with her arms crossed, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"Gee, Weiss, thanks," Tiella said, a wry smile on her face as she observed both Weiss and the cashier lady's reactions.

 _"How about that..? Does that mean she doesn't particularly hate the faunus and is just really awkward with them instead? Interesting. The cashier lady over here looked like a deer caught in the headlights when Weiss came over, though. No pun intended."_

Tiella quietly paid for her goods and they quickly went on their way back to Beacon. It was near 5 o'clock in the afternoon already when they began their way back—the hues of the setting sun washing over the landscape as they silently walked towards the air docks.

"I said something mean to Ruby." she began, eyes downcast, and her voice and expression morose—much like the time they met back at the garden courtyard.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't mean any of it... I just blurted it out because, like you said, I was being a _dumb teenager_ whether I liked it or not."

"Okay."

"I should've kept my cool more."

"..."

"My thoughtless words caused my partner and leader pain because I was _embarrassed_ over a situation that was nobody's fault other than my own."

"..."

"And because of it, I've inadvertently put a tension between us that affected not just us but also Yang and Blake."

"..."

"Ruby shrugged my words off like they didn't matter... but I know I hurt her because I saw the look on her face just before she put up a front."

"..."

"A _facade_ that I believe she wore to reassure me that there were no hard feelings... but I saw her look. And I'd be lying if I said she didn't look affected by it at all. And all that front did was guilt me further, making it even harder for me to look at her—much less apologize to her.

"..."

"Blake was disappointed in me."

"..."

"And Yang wouldn't even acknowledge me."

"..."

"All she did was glare at me right after I messed up before she proceeded to ignore my existence for the rest of the day until I met up with you."

"..."

"I didn't know what to do. How should _I_ know what to do?"

"..."

Weiss looked up at Tiella with a dejected smile, "It was the first time in my cold, sad life that I made friends that I treasured as much as them."

"I see," she said, content with simply listening to Weiss for the moment. "Relationships are messy."

"I know... so, I thought about it. More and more until I've likely driven myself to a wall."

"..."

"But then I met up with you and you suggested I take my mind off of it—preposterous as it sounded to me, really."

"You really think that?"

"No... not anymore, at least." she smiled graciously.

"Good to know."

"Thank you, Tiella. I think I have an idea on how to make up with Ruby now. And hopefully, with Yang and Blake, too."

"That's what friends are for."

"It's not over yet because I still have something to do but I feel like a weight's been lifted off my chest now that I've talked to you about it," she said, her tone and posture visibly relaxing.

"Not like there was a lot of weight to carry as far as I see it." she teased, looking down on Weiss with a smug grin.

Weiss glared back at her in response, "At least I know that mine won't sag when I get older, unlike your udders."

"These puppies are worth their weight in gold, sweetie. And sometimes that feels like a lot of weight to carry—makes it a little stiff around my shoulders, you know? Oh _wait,_ I guess you wouldn't."

"Do you want me to carry them for you, then? You big baby. I could get you a wheelbarrow if you're so inclined."

"Did you just..." she looked at Weiss in a mixture of surprise and amusement. "Did you just joke about carrying my tits for me?"

"That's what friends are for."

Tiella cackled, taken off guard by Weiss' sudden attempt to play along with her joke in that particular way. "I'm not even mad. Here I thought Weiss was just another stick in the mud. So, here I am now happy that I was proven wrong."

Weiss smiled at her words, feeling a soft warmth spread from her chest.

 _"Friends... I like the sound of that."_

* * *

"And what did Ms. Schnee do, exactly?"

"I think she went straight for the cafeteria as soon as we docked back here but I'm not really sure what she did."

"It's good to know that Ms. Schnee has an idea, at least."

"I know, right? I'm so good."

"Sure you are."

* * *

 _At the same time in the cafeteria..._

Weiss was standing behind one of the kitchen islands of the cafeteria. Normally, the staff wouldn't let a student just waltz in and do their thing, but Mama took one look at Weiss' determined eyes and figured there was something she needed to do.

"Thank you, Mrs. Silvers." Weiss bowed.

"Don't sweat it, darl'. I was a kid once, meself."

Weiss didn't understand what Mama was implying, so she simply smiled at her gratefully.

"If you need anything, just holler over. I'll be at the table in the back."

"I will, Mrs. Silvers."

"Oh, and, don't make too big a mess, ya hear?"

"I'll take care to clean everything as soon as I'm done."

The soft click of the door closing was her cue. She rolled up her sleeves, wore an apron that she borrowed, and opened up her scroll to search the internet for the best possible cookie recipe should easily find. It had to be extra sweet without overpowering the rest of the cookies' ingredients.

 _"This one looks good. And it looks easy enough that even I should be able to do it. All I need to do is follow the recipe. No rookie mistakes are needed if I don't do any stupid experimenting. This is for Ruby, not just anyone. It's for_ _ **Ruby**_ _."_

She took a deep breath and released it steadily, _"Here goes..."_

And for the next few hours, Weiss kept making and remaking fresh batches of cookies until she was satisfied that it would satisfy Ruby. In time, her hands got sore after kneading so much dough and she'd even burned her fingers a few times for touching the hot tray without oven mitts—luckily, her Aura'd dulled the heat and easily healed the supposed burn. So, she cleaned up everything she used as fast as she could before she wrapped her best batch—12 pieces in total—stacked into a small, transparent gift wrap for sweets with a pink ribbon.

"Mrs. Silvers?" she called out.

"Yes, Dearie, how can I help?" she said, walking in through the door.

"Oh, uhm. I've finished borrowing the kitchen and I've also made sure to tidy up after."

"Good to know."

"T-These are for you, by the way! I made a little too much and I was hoping you wouldn't mind having these with the others?"

Mama eyed the bag of cookies curiously for a second before she graciously accepted it. "Why, thank you, darl'! These look real nice and lovely. I'll be sure to share it with the others."

"N-No, ma'am, the pleasure was all mine," she said with a small bow of her head. "I'll be going now, Mrs. Silvers. Thank you, once again."

"Do be careful, now!"

"I will!"

Weiss quickly ran over to the West Wing Dormitories and stood in front of their dorm room for a moment. Her heart was racing, though she suspected it wasn't just because of the run. She took a few deep breaths to calm heart and ease her nerves before she reached a hesitant knuckle on the door.

 _"Why am I trying to knock? It's my room, too!"_

She put her hand over her chest and took deep breaths again and this time, she put her hand over the doorknob instead.

 _"You can do this, Weiss. She'll love them! You practiced everything and all! You made sure that this is the best batch and you've never seen Ruby turn down a batch of cookies before!"_

She hesitated once more, lifting her hand just a tiny bit from the doorknob.

 _"But what if this is the first time she rejects one? What if she doesn't like them?"_ she thought, moving her hand closer to her chest. _"What if she says they're awful and that I shouldn't have bothered?"_

Her eyes were sent down to the floor and her heart threatened to break—an ache gripped her, making her stand still. Making her afraid of taking a step forward.

 _"What if this was all just a mistake?"_

Suddenly, the door opened and Blake popped out from inside. "Weiss? I heard someone outside, was that you? Why are you just standing there?"

"B-Blake!" surprised, she hid the bag of cookies behind her. "I... I was just-" she took a deep breath, "I just got here."

"Riiight..." she drawled, looking at her incredulously.

Weiss awkwardly smiled back at Blake, worried that she might have seen her bag of cookies. _"Hold on, why am I hiding it from Blake?"_

"Are you just gonna stand there or..?"

"O-Oh! Right." she walked closer to the door and was about to open it herself when Blake held it ajar for a bit longer, earning a confused look from Weiss.

"What's that you have behind you?"

"I-It's-..." she stuttered, a little hesitant over whether she should tell Blake first or not. After a few seconds of deliberation, she spoke again. "It's for Ruby," she said, revealing the cookies to Blake.

Blake eyed the bag curiously, _"I suppose this is her way of apologizing?"_ she thought as a small smile appeared on her face. _"How very quaint."_

"Okay. Don't let me stop you any longer," she said, opening the door for Weiss. "Ruby's in the bathroom washing up, she just finished up on Tiella's glove for today and she plans to continue working on it tomorrow."

"I see." she stepped in and glanced around, noting Yang on her bed with her headphones on. She wondered whether she was still ignoring her or just didn't hear or see her come in. And while she doubted it, she was hoping it was the latter.

She took a seat by her bed and anxiously waited for Ruby to come out of the bathroom. Blake went back to her book in her own bed, leaning her back on the wall next to it. Seconds flew by with no one talking but it felt like hours to Weiss as she sat on her bed giddily, impatiently bouncing her leg as she waited for Ruby to finish up. In the meantime, Weiss thought about what she needed to say to Ruby.

 _"'I'm sorry I said mean things to you this morning'? Is that good? Does that come off as sincere? It's only a matter of time before she comes out of the bathroom. I have to do this perfectly."_

Eventually, the bathroom door opened, revealing Ruby in her pajamas—drying her hair with a towel as she went out.

"Hey, Weiss," she called, taking Weiss away from her thoughts. "Where've you been today?"

"O-Oh," surprised, she hid the bag from sight again, "I'm sorry I forgot to tell you." she began apologetically, sending her eyes down on the floor once more. "I was out with Tiella in Vale."

"Really?" Ruby asked, "What did you do there?"

"Not a lot, really. She treated me to some... calamari, I believe that's what she called it?" remembering the delightful taste of those deep fried seafood goodness.

"Ooohh! I wish I could have joined you." she smiled a little sadly, "But then I had Tiella's glove to do today, so I guess I couldn't even if you told me, huh?"

Silence reigned over as they couldn't find anything else to say. Ruby took a seat by the desk where she continued to dry her hair with the towel while Weiss peeked at the cookies discreetly. When she looked up, she found Blake looking at her, motioning with her eyes and head about Ruby and the cookies. Weiss swallowed thickly, nodding at Blake in acknowledgment before she looked to Ruby again.

"Hey, Ruby?" she called.

Her voice wasn't particularly loud but it was enough to call to attention Yang who'd been trying to ignore Weiss as soon as she got into the room. Discreetly, she turned off her music, and without removing her headphones, she listened in on what Weiss had to say without looking at her.

"Yes, Weiss?" Ruby looked back, that same smile she wore was on her face again. It irked Weiss, as much as it made her feel nervous.

They were all silent for another few seconds until Weiss broke the silence once more.

"I'm..." she began, slowly revealing the bag of cookies to Ruby. "I'm sorry about this morning."

"What do you me-" Ruby asked, curiously looking at the cookies but was cut short by Weiss.

"You know what I mean, Ruby," she said, talking over Ruby. "I said stupid things and I hurt you with them."

"It's okay, Wei-"

"It's _not_ okay!" she yelled, irritated at that damned front Ruby kept wearing. "If you're hurt, then you have to show it! If you're angry, then you have the right to let me know!"

Taken aback by Weiss' sudden outburst, Ruby could say nothing as she stared back at her.

"You can't just bottle it up and put up a front! You're my leader, Ruby, you should know how to keep your subordinates in line!" she paused, eyes downcast. "I know I hurt you, Ruby..."

They remained silent for a few seconds again until Ruby spoke, "I'm so-"

"No."

"Weiss?"

" _No._ " she repeated, "There's no need for you to apologize." she walked closer to her, holding out the bag of cookies in front of her. " _I_ should be the one apologizing." offering them to Ruby stiffly.

Ruby stared surprised at what was being held out to her. She was immediately trying to identify where she could have possibly gotten the cookies. As a self-proclaimed cookie connoisseur, she should know where Weiss got them, but instead, she could only draw a blank. Other than Ruby, Yang, too, was taken by surprise at Weiss' words and actions.

Ruby looked between the cookies and Weiss, noting the anxious expression over her face. Gratefully, Ruby accepted the offered cookies with a smile. "Thanks, Weiss."

Weiss looked visibly relieved for a moment before she tensed up again. "Better taste them first, I'm not sure if you'll like them."

"They're cookies, Weiss. I'll always like cookies," she reassured.

Weiss thickly swallowed in anxious silence as she watched Ruby open the bag, taking one cookie to taste. Ruby bit half off the cookie and savored the flavor in her mouth before she quickly threw the other half into her mouth and swallowing merrily.

"They're really good, Weiss! Where'd you get them?" she asked, wondering if there was a shop she missed in Vale.

"..ade them," she whispered, both extremely shy and happy about the fact that Ruby seemed to love them. Ruby didn't hear it but Blake certainly did, as always, and she was most definitely surprised by it.

"Sorry, Weiss, I didn't quite catch that," Ruby asked innocently.

"I-I made them," she said, squirming a little in place as she idly played with her fingers looking down.

Ruby stood abruptly, catching Weiss off guard. She was shaking in place and her face was hidden from Weiss' view.

"I-I'm sorry, Ruby, did you not like them, after a-" she began, worried that the shaking was an indication of Ruby's anger.

"Best. Partner. _EVER!_ " she yelled, raising her arms up as she tackle-hugged Weiss into her bed. "I love you, Weiss! You're the best!" she beamed, flashing Weiss her first genuine smile since this morning.

Weiss could say nothing, unable to formulate the right words in response as she blushed up a storm while Ruby simply kept hugging and burying her face in Weiss' chest. "I love them, Weiss! They'resodeliciousandIcan'tbelieveyoucanbakecookiesthisgoodandthatyou'remypartnerandIloveyouandandand-"

"Whoah, there, little sister," Yang said, pulling Ruby away from Weiss with one hand. "I think Weiss needs to breathe." she smiled wryly, looking between Ruby and Weiss. "And they're that good?"

"Yes!" Ruby beamed.

"Alright, can't know until we try 'em." she said, putting Ruby down and taking two cookies from the bag, "Hey, Blake!"

"I'm there, I'm there. No need to yell," she said, walking up behind Yang.

Weiss noticed Yang and Blake were about to try her cookies, making her anxious about their reactions. _"Ruby loved it and I'm glad she did but I suppose that's because she's a cookie lover. Hopefully, they'll feel at least remotely the same..."_

Yang and Blake each took a bite from their cookies while Ruby and Weiss watched in eager—anxious in Weiss' case—anticipation of their reactions.

"What the hell, Weiss?" Yang started, causing Weiss to flinch away in fear. "These are so damn good? Are you sure you made them?" she teased, tossing the rest of the cookie into her mouth.

"I didn't expect the Schnee heiress to take baking as one of her hobbies." Blake commented, "Is it?" taking smaller bites as opposed to what her partner did with hers.

"I know, right!? They're so good!" Ruby said as she wolfed down more of the cookies in a flash.

Weiss sat upright on her bed, most of her anxieties washed away. "I just followed this recipe here..." she said, showing them the recipe on her scroll. "I-It was my first time baking, so I kept starting over... I made a few batches that weren't really any good. Those are what I think were my best ones." she stated shyly.

"You're joking," Yang said.

"I-I'm not!"

"That's... actually impressive, Weiss," Blake said, still a little in disbelief. "They're very good."

"Thank you, Blake." genuinely happy that she's made up with Yang and Blake, too.

Ruby hugged her from the side again, touching her cheek with Weiss'. "I can't believe you made this in just a few tries, I'm so proud of _yooouuu!_ "

She took a cookie from the bag and offered it to Weiss. "And I feel so lucky again to have you as my partner," she said, a gentle smile adorning her.

Weiss looked back at Ruby with a faint blush on her cheeks as she absentmindedly accepted the cookie offered. Though, before she could take it in her hand...

"Say, 'Aahh~', Weiss."

"A-Aaaahh-...!?" she idly followed Ruby's command until she realized what she was making her do. "W-What do you think you're doing!?"

"I'm feeding you, Weiss! For a super job well done!" she said, the picture of innocence on her face.

"I-I'm perfectly capable of feeding my self, thank you very much," she said, attempting to grab the cookie out of Ruby's hand.

Ruby swiftly moved it out of Weiss' reach, grinning, "Leader's ordeeerrr~" she teased in a sing-song tone.

Weiss froze at her words—she knew Ruby was just teasing her, but since she said it was the leader's order...

"Come on, Weiss. We can't _possibly_ disobey our leader now, can we?" Yang doubled in on the teasing.

"Disobeying the team leader?" Blake gasped, "That wouldn't be very cooperative of you." tripling in.

Weiss looked between Ruby, Yang, and Blake with her flush coloring deeper and deeper. "A-Alrig-... _alright,_ already!" she yelled in indignant resignation.

"Let's start over again. Say, 'Aahh~'!" Ruby said, moving the cookie closer to Weiss' mouth once more.

Weiss was hesitant at first, staring at the cookie in front of her as the blush on her face grew an even deeper shade of red. "A-Aahh~..."

Ruby gently slid half the cookie into Weiss' mouth, to which she shyly chewed and tasted her own work.

"Well?" Ruby asked, "How is it?"

"They're fine..." she said, turning her face away to hide her blush from Ruby—which was still pretty apparent to everyone, mind you.

Ruby found Weiss being absolutely adorable at that moment, so she couldn't help but tackle-hug her down to the bed once more. "You're so cute, Weiss!"

"L-Let go of me, you dolt!" she said, though her actions were the contrary—gently wrapping her arms over Ruby's shoulder and back.

"Wow, Weiss. At least wait until we're no longer here." Blake teased.

"Do anything bad to my sister and I break your legs, alright?" Yang said half-teasing and half-threatening. "If you keep that in mind, then I wouldn't mind approving."

"E-Excuse me!?"

And thus, more teasing—with a little bit of threatening from Yang—ensued.

Ruby didn't understand what they were teasing Weiss about, but she didn't care. She was already content with being able to make up with Weiss again.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it._

 _I've reached that point in life where I take a break from writing by writing a different story. I feel oddly proud of this._

 _Or maybe it's just because this idea's been plaguing my mind since forever now. Hmm._

 _Whatever! I will shamelessly advertise it here and say that it's up on the Dark Souls x RWBY crossover section, so if you're interested, do give it a read. I'm sure it will be very easy to find._

 _I also have another story which I haven't touched in a while now because I'm still trying to think of a way to better improve it without making it cringey. I'm not particularly good with romance stories as you can see._

 _I apologize for wasting your time with my shamelessness._

 _Anyway, do leave a review if you will, please! Any form of feedback is something I highly appreciate._

 _Thanks again for reading another chapter of Lost Star!_

 _I'll see you in the next chapter._


	19. Chapter 19

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I wanted to address that one particular review from a dear anonymous guest._

 _I just wanted to say that, finally, someone pointed out the hypocrisies in Tiella's words and actions and honestly, it makes me happy because I've been waiting for an opportunity to discuss this with someone. Really, I'm not trying to be sarcastic!_

 _I'm sure that a lot of you've noticed that some if not a lot of Tiella's words and actions contradict. Particularly whenever she says she hates kids because they're generally just a bunch of horny jackasses when she's barely out of her teenage years still and constantly flirts with Glynda whenever she can._

 _When I was still fleshing out Tiella's character, I thought of ways to make her feel like a real human, like someone that you wouldn't find weird if you happen to meet her in real life. So, I looked back on all the stuff I've read and all the shows/movies I've watched and tried understanding what's common in all of them. Basically, I found a lot of things but the most prominent characteristic in a lot of people in both fiction and reality is that everyone has at least one thing they're hypocritical about._

 _And it's not just about being a hypocrite as well. Tiella is projecting what she finds bad about herself into other people unconsciously because she finds those particular traits unattractive despite them being a core part of her personality. It's a common personality trait among humans in general, not just characters in fiction. In fact, you're less likely to find those kinds of traits in fictional characters because I've noticed how a lot of the MCs or OCs are ideal people, despite the author's attempts at making them flawed._

 _Ironically enough, those ideal people end up being hypocrites in the end, too._

 _And in my opinion, that's just fine. Tiella is a flawed person, much like all of us, and if some people find her incredibly annoying because of it, then that's just fine, too. Because much like in reality, no one person is loved by all._

 _Unless you're Steve Irwin or Bob Ross—bless their souls._

 _Though, she's still young, like dear guest said—she's still just a young adult—so, change is still bound to happen and that's what I'm trying to deliver naturally while writing this story._

 _I hope that makes sense to a lot of you, I hope I've created her in such a way that she feels human to you, and I hope the one that reviewed continued reading at least up to this part here. I'd PM them but they're anonymous, so..._

 _Anyway! Please move forward to chapter 19._

* * *

"Oh ma gaaawd, finally..!"

Tiella stretched her arms and back in front of the window in her birthday suit, letting out a yawn as she spoke.

"Finally Sunday! A day when I can do _fuck all._ "

She stretched her neck a few times, causing it to pop a few times before she threw herself onto her bed with a belly flop.

 _"Should I just sleep in? Naw, I don't really fall asleep easy in the day."_ She lazily looked to her study desk. _"Do some reading instead?"_

She played with her fringes idly, occasionally blowing her fringes upward with a breath.

 _"It's times like these that not having a particular hobby to do aside from bashing heads in really makes me believe I've been living a pretty sad life. I'm bored as fuck and I'm pretty sure I can't just pick a fight with someone on a weekend like this."_

She rolled around in bed until she fell off, easily catching herself with a hand that went straight into a single one-hand push up into a one-hand handstand. She moved her legs in a cyclic motion while continuing her thoughts.

 _"Maybe I should check on Ruby and Weiss? I also wanna know about that glove, too. Would that make me look impatient? Naw, she hasn't even shown me blueprints for it, should be fine, right?"_

She did a 180 on her hand to check the wall clock behind her before she switched to her other hand.

 _"7:13 am. Yeah, too early. Guess I'll just..."_

She vaulted up with her hand to stand upright. She grabbed her scroll from the desk to check for any notifications and found nothing. Then, she grabbed her smartphone, played her entire playlist on shuffle in a moderately loud volume, and set herself parallel to the floor for a _very_ long plank.

 _"...stay here like the sad, hobby-less girl I am."_

Some 15 minutes have passed since she started her plank and she's yet to feel any form of soreness anywhere in her body, though she has built up some sweat here and there.

 _"I could always flick the bean... I'm gonna need some material to get started, though. When was the last time I had sex again? 8 months... no-.. a year? Over a year ago? Hold up, I didn't think I had it this bad. I can't believe I'm thinking of masturbating to pass the time."_ She sighed and shook her head in disappointment, _"That's just sad, girl."_

She lazily turned her head towards the bed with a wry look on her face.

 _"And if I stain the bed, who do you think's gonna notice?"_

Her first thought was Glynda finding the stains as she did the laundry and somehow that made her cheeks flush a little along with a slight heat building up from below.

 _"Welp, that did the trick easier than I thought. Am I_ _ **that**_ _thirsty for Glynda or am I just thirsty,_ _ **period?**_ _Whatever, I might need a release—and not a kill a bunch of Grimm kind of release."_

She let out a loud sigh, focusing on the music that played instead of the gutter that her mind was becoming at the thought of flicking the bean to Glynda.

 _Nothing so loud_

 _"You can't really blame me, can you? I mean,"_

 _As hearing when we lie_

 _"cute face, sexy body, and a nice apartment?"_

 _Truth is not kind_

 _"Not to mention a great cook, caring as fuck, and knows I have the hots for her?"_

 _And you've said neither am I_

 _"I'd never let her go."_

"And the air outside so soft is saying _everythi~ng_ "

She sang along, her husky voice reverberating in the room along with the music that played.

" _Everythi~ng!_ "

Eventually, she moved her head left and right along with the beat of the drums with her eyes closed, focusing intently on the music. And so focused was she on the song that played that she failed to hear the knocks on her door.

 _All I want is to feel this way_

"To be this close, to feel the sa~me"

 _All I want is to feel this way_

"The evening speaks," she sang louder, getting even more into the song as she followed along.

"Breakfa-"

"I feel it sa~ _..aaAAAHH!_ " she quickly pushed herself up and spun to face the door.

"-st is ready."

" _Learn to friggin' knock!_ " she yelled indignantly, covering herself partially with her blanket as her face flushed a bright red.

"I _did,_ " she retorted curtly, unable to fully stop an amused smile from forming on her face, "but since you were so focused on your _singing,_ you failed to notice me knocking 3 times in a row. Again."

"Yeah. Okay. Whatever. Can you just- I dunno- get out so I can wear something?" she said, avoiding eye contact before a salacious grin appeared on her face, "Unless you're fine with me joining you at the table in my birthday suit?"

"Don't be a pest," she replied curtly, immediately shutting the door on her way out.

Tiella sighed, letting her blanket slide to the floor as she walked to her closet. She picked her clothes out, a white T and red sports shorts combo while remaining commando underneath. She forewent trying her braids, letting her bright red messy head of hair cascade down her back and shoulders. She turned her playlist off before joining Glynda who was by the table and was waiting for her with an amused grin on her face.

 _"This is gonna suck."_ she thought, brushing her fringes up in frustration.

"Good morning."

"Mornin'..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Glynda, I'mma be honest with you."

"Go ahead."

"I don't like that grin you're wearing."

"You're being paranoid." she rolled her eyes, the grin never truly disappearing, "Just take your seat already, I've been waiting for you for a while now and I'm hungry. I also have work I need to finish today."

Tiella nodded her head a few times with pursed lips, not really sure how to react. She took a seat in front of Glynda and eyed her breakfast for the day—a few large servings of chicken parmigiana with some buttered toasts on the side, and both coffee and milk for drinks. Tiella started with the toast before going for the chicken.

 _"She looked so meek. So different from her usual self when I caught her singing. Is she unused to singing in front of an audience? Admittedly, it was quite cute and it makes me want to see more. A little payback for all the times she teased me wouldn't hurt, right?"_

Glynda grinned a little wider as she watched Tiella silently eat. "You've quite a nice singing voice. I hadn't expected that."

Tiella looked back at her in wide-eyed disbelief mid-bite of her chicken parmigiana sandwiched between two buttered toasts, a bright red blush appearing almost immediately on her cheeks.

 _"I knew it. Looks like singing isn't something she's used to showing others. Ohoho..."_

"You have a lovely raspy singing voice that I don't often hear from a lot of people," she said after taking a small bite of her chicken, "it was quite refreshing," she added, watching in amusement as Tiella's cheeks blushed more and more with her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "And your vibrato as you aimed for the high notes— _truly unexpected._ "

At that point, Tiella's entire face was colored a bright red, purposefully avoiding eye contact with her as she tried, in vain, to formulate words.

She leaned on the table with her elbows, placing her chin atop joined fingers as she asked, "Was that a song from your world?"

Still not willing to look at Glynda, she simply nodded her head a couple times in agreement as she hurriedly stuffed her face with more of her sandwich.

 _"So cute."_ she thought, "May I know the name?"

Tiella remained silent for a few seconds, focusing on chewing and swallowing her food. She took a big gulp of her coffee milk before she demurely answered, "'All I Want' by Toad The Wet Sprocket."

"Well, well, well." she nodded contentedly, taking another bite of her chicken, "The _Professional Bully_ of Beacon Academy and Mercenary from Another World, Celestiella Valmary Margory, secretly sings in _such_ a beautiful voice? To a _love song_ , I believe? My, how the people would _love_ to hear that."

"I'm positive I would." She looked back at Tiella in surprised when she found her face completely flushed red as she looked down on her hands on her thighs, lips pursed tightly with tears welling on the corner of her eyes.

 _"O-Oh? Have I gone overboard?"_

Within the span of a second, Tiella ate all her food and drank all her coffee milk followed with her standing abruptly and running back to her room all the while saying, " _Thanks,Glynda,breakfastwasgreatIjustrememberedIgotsomethingtodososeeya!_ "

Glynda stared dumbfounded at the door of Tiella's room for a full minute, trying to understand what she'd just witnessed. Unable to formulate a plausible reason, she returned to eating her breakfast—still dumbfounded.

 _"Is this an otherworlder thing or is she just strange?"_

Just as she was cleaning the table, she heard a muffled sound from Tiella's room. Worried and curious, she knocked a few times before opening the door only to see no one inside with the curtains gently swaying by the wind coming in through the open window. Dumbfounded beyond words once again, she simply shut her eyes, took a deep breath, adjusted her glasses, pinched the bridge of her nose, and gently shut the door while letting out a sigh.

* * *

Tiella was absentmindedly walking the gardens of Beacon Academy, still a little red in the face. She changed into a deep red dress shirt—top and bottom buttons undone—with the sleeves rolled up to just above her elbows. She wore a gold-colored necktie that hung loosely by her collar paired with black slacks and black leather. She idly did one side of her hair in a loose braid while biting onto her hair ties.

"God, what the hell was that about?"

 _"Did she really mean that? Did she? Oh god, why am I getting the jitters? Why did that make me so fucking happy beyond words? Oh god, oh god, oh shit, oh fuck, oh god. I'm fucking head over heels. I have it so bad, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. I can't deal with this. How do I deal with this? Nooo, I don't wanna deal with this."_

"What was what about?"

She abruptly turned to the voice behind her, "Oh, god! _Velveeet!_ Heeey, how ya doiiin'?" she said, braiding the other side of her hair with a wry smile on her face.

"Nothing much, just taking a walk." she smiled, "Are you okay? You seem a little red-faced and jumpy."

"Oh?" she touched her cheeks, "Uh, this? Naw, that's nothin'- it's nothing." she said, flashing Velvet a big grin.

"Oookaaay..." she drawled, "...are you busy today?"

"No, not really."

"What were you talking about earlier?"

"Nothin' important." she replied curtly, her cheeks flushing a little red again, "Where's your team?"

"In the dorm, taking a break from everything. It's days like these when we all laze around doing nothing as much as we can."

"Ah, yeah, I get that. I don't really know what to do with my day, too," she said, putting a hand on her waist. "I guess I can check on Ruby for that glove I asked her to work on but it's a little too early for that."

"Glove?"

"Yeah, we were brainstorming on what sorta upgrades we can do on my kit. Since she said my fighting style's pretty much well cemented already, making a new weapon might make it harder for me to adapt instead." she started walking with no particular direction in mind, "So, we went for utility."

She easily followed beside her, "What's the glove do in particular?"

"It's a clawed glove that should help me climb up walls."

"Only one glove?"

"Yep. Though I haven't really seen the design and honestly, I'm a little worried that I'm putting too much expectations on a kid."

"From what I know, Ruby came from Signal Academy and if that's true, then a clawed glove should be easy for her."

"Why's that?" raising a questioning brow.

"All students at Signal forge their own weapons."

"Ah, right. She told me that." she put a hand on her chin and thought back, "Now that you mention it... that scythe does look like overkill."

"I know, right?" she beamed, "It's such an intricate piece of weaponry that it was really hard to believe a 15-year-old like her built it. It makes me wish I could have seen how she went through the process of creating such a weapon!"

She grinned, "Well, now."

"W-What?"

"I didn't expect you to be so interested in another person's weapon." she teased, "Are you like that with all weapons? Or just Ruby's in particular?"

"O-Oh!" she said, catching herself from getting further excited. She gingerly played with the tip of her fingers together with a demure smile, "Y-You could say that I'm very interested in all sorts of weapons."

"So, you're a weapons nerd like Little Rose."

"You could say that." She agreed with a bit of a wry smile before she came to a realization, "Ah, you've never seen my weapon before, have you?"

"I've never even seen you fight."

She thought pensively, "That's right..."

They stayed silent as they walked, eventually ending up in the garden courtyard where it was sparsely populated at the time. They took a seat by a bench under the shade of a large tree. Tiella stretched her arm on the backrest of the bench and she crossed her leg—ankle-on-knee—to sit a little more comfortably. In contrast, Velvet sat an arm's length away and a little more conservatively with an upright sitting posture but still retained some comfort by reclining her back against the bench.

Tiella leaned and hung her head on top of the backrest and closed her eyes, letting spots of sunlight gleaming through the leaves to pass over her eyelids as the wind gently blew over them.

"Umm..."

"...?"

"Would you..." she continued, looking at Tiella with an unsure expression.

"I'm listening," she said without moving after not hearing Velvet continue after a few seconds had passed.

"Would you like to spar with me?" she asked, her ears standing stiffly.

That caught Tiella's interest as she abruptly rose her head and looked back at Velvet with a grin. "Where'd that come from?"

"S-Sorry! It was a weird questio-"

"No, no." she interrupted, "I wanna spar, sure, but I just wanna know why? Is it because I said I've never seen you fight before?"

Velvet relaxed and lightly nodded her head, "Partially, yes. The other reason is to show you why I'm interested in all sorts of weapons in general."

"Interesting," she said, leaning over to put an elbow over her knee that crossed over her leg. "I like how you're taking the convoluted way of explaining your reason to me. When do we start?"

"Right now."

Tiella whispered in delight, "Guess my Sunday's not gonna be so boring after all." stretching her arms and back in a circular manner.

They immediately went for the gym to change into more appropriate sparring attire—Tiella in her black and red themed sports bra & shorts set and Velvet into something similar but with a brown and gold color scheme instead.

While Tiella was doing warm-up stretches, she noticed the scattered practice weapons throughout the arena. _"Interesting... is she implying that she's an expert over a lot of weapons?"_ she thought as she looked towards her sparring partner.

Velvet was doing her own stretches on the far side of the arena. Her expression completely focused on her warm-ups—not even bothering to react to her team who was suddenly on her side of the arena cheering for her.

"Kick her ass, Velvs!"

"Force her to fight seriously."

"Keep it clean and have fun."

"Hey!" Tiella yelled, "Don't I get a cheering squad?"

"Sorry, Chelly! I like you but I love Velvs!"

"Harsh but fair," she said with mixed nods and shakes of her head with pursed lips, hands on her waist. "that is harsh but fair."

She side-glanced at Velvet's cheering squad, _"Make me fight seriously, huh?"_ she eyed the scattered weapons again, _"It'll be my first time facing a 2nd year here... I've fought the supposed 3rd seat of the entire school and he was a tough nut to crack. I probably would've lost that if I didn't catch him off guard."_ her eyes turned to slits as her grin widened, _"Still... if the top 5 first years are like_ _ **that,**_ _then..."_

"...this is gonna be _fun._ "

Velvet saw the look on Tiella's face and immediately her face hardened. _"It looks like she's expecting a good fight, at least."_ She looked back at her teammates in the corner of her eyes, _"Don't worry, team. She's going to have to fight seriously. I'll make sure of it."_

"So," Tiella hopped from one leg to another while moving towards Velvet, "how are we doing this?"

"Just like any other spar," she answered while stretching her thighs back.

"Great, great." as soon as she finished her warm-ups, she reached a fist over at Velvet with a casual smile.

Velvet curiously eyed the extended fist for a scant amount of seconds, "Oh!" before she remembered how she did the same with Pyrrha before. She exhaled a huff of air through her mouth before she smiled determinedly and extended a fist out as well, both bumping at each other in unison, earning her a wider smile from Tiella.

"What's that they're doing?" Coco asked her two teammates.

"It looks like a form of greeting." Yatsuhashi guessed.

"A strange custom," Fox commented.

"Why couldn't they just shake hands then?"

All three of them thought the question over as they watched Tiella walk away from Velvet and back to her original position before taking a relaxed fighting stance.

"Perhaps it's because it appears more fitting to bump fists in a spar than that of a handshake?" Yatsuhashi guessed.

"It sounds likely in a traditional sense," Fox commented.

"Makes sense. It'd be pretty weird to see a gladiator match with both contestants shaking hands."

Tiella popped a few cracking sounds from her hand by simply tightening it into a fist slowly but tensely before she beckoned Velvet with a few small waves of her hand. "Showtime?"

Velvet smiled back at her, taking a low stance with her legs bent and far apart. "Showtime."

Tiella and Velvet sprinted at each other—Tiella ignoring the weapons along the way while Velvet did the same until they were only a few meters apart from clashing.

Velvet did a sliding kick at Tiella, making the tall girl sidestep around her. As she slid past Tiella, Velvet picked up a sword and a spear before she vaulted herself into a high somersault with the spear and threw the sword at Tiella, who just finished sidestepping, before landing and immediately posing for a sharp thrust.

Tiella spun to her right to minimally avoid the incoming sword before she rolled towards Velvet as she thrust the spear at her midsection. Expecting a dodge but not expecting a roll, Velvet hesitated for a split second as she watched Tiella quickly turn her roll into a sharp ax kick that aimed for her head. Just before the heel of Tiella's foot reached Velvet's skull, Velvet spun to her right, immediately blocking the kick with the shaft of her spear which she then used to guide Tiella's kick off balance, letting the tall girl slide on the arena floor and instantly following up with a wide swing of her spear, hitting Tiella square in the middle of her back—making the girl skid and roll further away.

Relentlessly, she kept up the pressure after taking away the offensive from Tiella. She ran and speared at her again, kicked another sword into her hand along the way before she pulled the spear back and threw it at Tiella again. Tiella dodged the first thrust at her with a tilt of her body after managing to stand back up after a roll and catching the spear with one hand on its shaft as it was thrown at her.

 _"Damn, she's aggressive as hell—totally different from how she's always so conservative."_

She grinned madly and easily broke the spear's shaft in half on her knee, creating a makeshift glaive, and charged at Velvet—throwing the blade-less end of the spear at her while preparing the other half for a thrust.

Velvet was surprised by the sudden action of Tiella breaking the spear for a moment but nonetheless charged in as well. She tilted her head sideways to avoid the broken spear part thrown at her and sidestepped to her left to stomp on a nearby shield, kicking it just in time to block Tiella's attack. The wooden shield shattered upon impact but it was enough of a distraction for her to take advantage of.

Tiella, after easily shattering the shield with a hard thrust, wasn't surprised to see Velvet using the splinters still flying in the air as cover for a sneak attack. Anticipating the high swipe for her neck, Tiella parried the incoming sword with the blade of her spear—the resounding clash from the two blades rung throughout the arena, blowing away the remaining splinters in the air along with nearby dust.

 _"I fucking love this."_

 _"She's just as good as I expected."_

Sparks flew as sword and spear kept grinding at each others' blades, the tension between them never letting up.

"Tell me, how long have you been waiting to pick a fight with me?" She strained to say in a grin.

"Ever since I saw you train on that punching bag." Straining her words as well.

Tiella took one step forward, pushing the bunny girl back with a step as well. "Well, ya shoulda' asked for it sooner!" she yelled, parrying Velvet's sword out of her hands, making her take a few hops backward. "Because you're one hell of a bunny girl!"

 _"Like I thought, I can't contest her in physical strength."_

She ran to the side, circling around Tiella as she picked a long sword and a short sword. _"I've no choice but to bring her into my playing field."_

Tiella stood relaxed as she watched Velvet circle around her, taking the moment as a slight respite from the surprise she'd gotten so far.

 _"And suddenly the shy girl is gone. I knew she could easily hand CRDL's asses over to them but damn it, I didn't expect this kinda aggressive style from the meek bunny girl that refused to fight back that day."_

She rolled her shoulder while spinning the half-broken spear in her hand, spinning it faster and faster as she walked towards Velvet. _"Congratulations, Velvet..."_

Velvet dashed towards Tiella, holding the two blades low and behind her for consecutive slashes aimed to destroy Tiella's spear completely and wear her Aura out at the same time. As she came close, she noticed how Tiella stood still while continuously spinning the spear in her hand. She took note of how her expression was calm and cool, unlike the battle-mad grin she'd been wearing just a second ago.

It wasn't until she was just a step within each other's attack range when she realized her mistake—and how late it was for her to react on time to the incoming blow.

At nearly point blank range and just a split second away from being hacked at by dual swords, Tiella inched her foot forward with a tremendous amount of rotational force and thrust at Velvet, creating a small vortex of wind as the spear traveled forward. Velvet managed to swing both swords to clash with Tiella's spear, the resounding impact of the clash piercing her heightened hearing enough to physically make her cringe at the pain. Though her worries only began from there.

Her eyes shut reflexively from the pain ringing in her ears, almost making her want to cover them with her hands. She opened her eyes to see that she'd been blown meters away and that the swords in her hand were nothing more than handles—their pieces scattered throughout the arena—while her hands up to her forearms felt shaky and numb.

 _"...you're a really skilled fighter."_

Tiella looked down on her hand, where only a splintered wooden shaft remained. Its blade pieces scattered throughout the arena as well—it was almost a miracle how no one was hurt by the blades-turned-shrapnel from three weapons in that one attack.

"Hmm, more fragile than I expected." So, she threw the shaft over her shoulder and walked to where Velvet was still laying on her back, shocked at the state of her weapons.

 _"Those were steel!"_ she panicked in her mind, scurrying away from Tiella to her feet, _"She just broke three strong pieces of metal meant to chip away at thick Grimm bone plating—_ _ **like it was nothing!**_ _"_

"What are you smiling at?" Tiella asked with an amused grin.

"Wha-?" Dumbfounded, she tried to cover her reddening face from Tiella's view with her bunny ears due to embarrassment. "I-I, I was just-"

"Aaand she's back." she chuckled.

"I-I'm sorr-"

Her smile turned feral as she quickly lunged at her, "Fight's not over, honey buns!" going for a grab on Velvet's face.

Velvet reacted fast, back-stepping from the hand as she threw her left forearm up to preemptively guard against an incoming attack—or so she expected. Instead what she received was a leg sweep that sent her tripping backward.

Tiella pulled her right arm back for a finishing blow at Velvet's midsection as she fell towards the ground. As her fist came crashing like a meteorite, causing dust to explode everywhere the moment she hit the arena floor, she was surprised when all she felt was the cold hard ground. When the dust blew away moments later, she saw Velvet looking at her with a calm and cool expression, fiercely sharp eyes glowing a bright light brown—her body slightly curled around her fist as Velvet tightly held onto her forearm.

In an instant, Tiella found herself over a dozen meters in the air, flying away with no idea when the attack came. She crashed to the ground hard, a couple meters away from Velvet. She rose her head shakily off the ground, feeling a little dizzy along with a bit of difficulty breathing from the blow to her chest, and watched wide-eyed as Velvet casually stood up and took a few steps towards her.

"Thank you for taking me seriously, Tiella..." she said politely, taking an uncannily familiar barehanded fighting stance, "...but this is where the real fight begins."

* * *

"How long did it take for Tiella to make Velvet use her Semblance? Was anyone keeping track?" Coco asked as she kept an eye on the spar.

"About 30 seconds," Fox answered almost immediately.

Coco whistled in admiration while Yatsuhashi nodded his head sagely. "That's gotta be a new record," Coco said in both amusement and amazement.

"The shortest record before that was a little under 2 minutes in a spar, right?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Yup, against me," Coco responded coolly. "That's really impressive," she said in no small amount of awe, "I heard Chelly was good but I honestly didn't expect her to be _this_ good. I guess that's why she's staff instead?"

"There's a rumor that she's a professional huntress like most of the student body believes," Fox added.

"Yeah, I've heard about that. Isn't it logical to think she is? You don't believe that, do you?"

"No." a curt reply.

Highly interested, she queried further, "Pray tell."

"She doesn't look like a huntress."

She laughed, "That's vague as shit, Fox, but you're never really wrong when it comes to things like this."

* * *

 _"Holy shit—she's copying me."_

Tiella got herself up with a kip up—her expression battle mad in that wide toothy grin once again. She stretched her back and shoulders, causing a few popping sounds, and entered her fighting stance—relaxed with her forearms raised in front of her, fists partially open, and her legs slightly bent and spread apart with her left leg behind—much like Velvet.

Or rather, _much like her._

 _"Looks like she's about to go ha- whoah!"_

The thought was cut short as Velvet ran up to grab her face with her right palm, causing her to tilt her head back and to throw a left kick in front of her. The kick was caught within Velvet's left hand and immediately she pulled her leg closer to her as she clenched her grab into a fist that aimed for Tiella's left cheek.

Tiella reacted instantly by kicking with her remaining leg, making her parallel to the ground, for a strong high kick aimed at Velvet's temple. Both hits connected, sending Velvet rolling away while Tiella crashed.

In unison, they both stood back up with a kip up before they both took a loose boxer's stance—Velvet perfectly mirroring Tiella. They ran at each other at the same time, and aimed for high kicks for each other's temple—only to have their shins block each other's kick, sending a forceful wind to blow the nearby dust away.

They switched to their other leg with a small hop forward, moving closer for a few more kicks, all going for each other's midsection, thigh, and temple in that order—only to have their kicks blocked by the other's forearm before they spun the opposite direction, switched to their other leg to go for a roundhouse kick that left powerful gusts of wind in its trail—blowing even more dust away as their shins clashed, sending each other down with enough force to leave cracks on the arena as the air in their lungs forced out momentarily.

 _"So... much... speed... and force..!"_

They stood back up with a kip up and Tiella was the first to move, going for a low right jab and an alternate high hook while Velvet parried the jab and went under the hook only to do the same against Tiella—to which she also did the same evasive maneuvers.

 _"How is she conditioned to fight like this!?"_

They both went for left hooks at each other's face only to have their free hands catch the other's fist. They ignored the slight pause in their attacks and followed through by pulling their fists back to them and going for sharp elbow strikes on each other's forehead instead, making them take a few steps away from each other in a moment of dizziness.

 _"This is going nowhere."_ Tiella thought as she shook her head.

 _"So, this is how it's like to fight like her. She's so intense... my hands have been sore since I barely blocked that one attack earlier. And it looks like she wants to end it already."_

Tiella grinned at Velvet before pulling her left fist back while Velvet determinedly smiled back at her before doing the same.

 _"You're really firing me up, honey buns, but can you copy this, too?"_

 _"Should I really be copying this attack? I feel like my body would break if I tried it."_

Velvet anxiously looked back at Tiella's eyes, noticing a very serious expression while they both focused on their stances.

 _"I can handle it. It's the first time anyone's seen her fight so seriously ever since coming here. I asked for this match, so I won't let her down."_

Their expressions calm, cool, and collected. Focused on their breathing and heartbeats.

In an instant, they moved.

Their eyes were focused on each other.

Their minds were clear, their muscles were relaxed, and their hearts were steady.

And for the first time ever, Velvet reached speeds she didn't know she could achieve.

She was incredibly surprised that she managed to reach such blindingly fast speeds in a tremendously short amount of time and distance. It let her peek at a whole new world of ideas for her—as if a door to the greater heights she'd been looking for all this time but hadn't known where to look for just ever so slightly opened for her—a glimpse of the true strength the elusive Tiella Margory wielded.

They spun forcefully but ever so slightly from the tips of their large toes and tensed from there, climbing, rotating, traveling all the way up to their fists that were hurtling past one another. However...

Velvet shook.

Her body spasmed just a tiny bit from the explosive tension she'd collected... and it was enough for her to miss and trip over forward. Her mind went blank as pain spread throughout her body in an instant—falling forward as she went limp, the glow in her eyes flickering and fading as she fell.

Expecting a devastating blow to crash at her, she closed her eyes but was instead oddly comforted as she felt a warm body against her.

Confused and in pain, she looked around her with glazed eyes and noticed a pair of strong arms under her. "H-Huh?"

"Hey, there." a casual smile greeted her as she looked up.

"Tiella..?" she spoke weakly, "What happened?"

"You tell me."

Tiella was on one knee as she held Velvet close to her. "Why'd you do that?"

"Velvet!"

They turned their heads to see the rest of Team CFVY running up to them. Tiella helped Velvet up before she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Coco asked worriedly. "What happened there?"

"I'm fine, Coco." she smiled, "And well..." she looked back to Tiella who was giving them a raised brow and a wry smile.

"Chelly? Care to tell?" eyeing the tall girl warily.

"You were watching, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but we still don't understand," Coco said, looking back at her teammates. "She was copying you, right?"

"Yup."

"So, what went wrong?" she tilted her head a bit, looking between an apologetic Velvet and a slightly amused Tiella.

"This is just a guess, but..." she said, putting a hand on her chin, noting the attentive expressions on Team CFVY's faces. "...but I think her body wasn't ready for that one move. My move."

"You're saying Velvs isn't strong enough to pull it off?" she asked doubtfully.

"Physically, yeah."

"But she has her Aura to compensate."

"She does."

"And that _still_ wasn't enough?"

"Apparently."

"Apparently? Okay, then." she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "What does it take?"

Tiella sighed, "Again, this is just a guess, but," putting one hand on her waist. "This," she said, pointing to her chest with a thumb.

"You're saying you're the only one that can pull it off? Her Semblance is _Mimicry!_ "

"Coco, calm down," Velvet cut in to placate her worked up partner, "I'm okay. I just strained myself a little."

"I know you are but I'm just really weirded out by this, aren't you?"

"Well..." rubbing her forearm gingerly, "I think I sort of understand what she's implying, at least."

Coco raised a brow at her in a silent question.

"I'm saying her body isn't physically strong enough to handle the strain," she explained, spreading her arms low and apart while puffing out her chest, vein-like chords of steel bulging from her arms as she tensed her muscles. "When I punch, I don't just punch with my hand or my arm—and I don't just stop with putting my back into it."

She clenched her fists tight, her knuckles almost whitening at her grip. The muscles in her forearms became even more prominent, rising up to her biceps, triceps, shoulders, and all the way up to her back, chest, and _abs._

"When I punch—I punch with my _entire_ body."

 _Prominent,_ _tight,_ and, dare Team CFVY say, _delicious_ 6-pack abs.

"Though, I'm still training to apply it to all my moves. The goal is to jab an inch away with enough force to break concrete and pull it off consecutively!" she said, flexing her right bicep before tapping it loudly with her free hand.

 _"You could grate cheese on those things..."_

 _"I have more muscle mass due to my size but even without having seen her fight, just the sight of her chiseled body can intimidate any man. I must ask her to spar with me as well, but not today. It is only right that we spar at peak performance."_

 _"I have to admit, I'm almost jealous that it was Velvet who had the chance to spar with her today. Perhaps I can challenge her some other time."_

 _"Oh my god... I was going toe to toe with this?"_

It intimidated Team CFVY—how her body looked so similar yet so different from theirs at the same time. They were all physically fit in their own rights, as befits huntsmen trainees of a combat school, but theirs couldn't compare to the sheer strength and the pure aura of intimidation her body exuded.

Add to all that the scars littered on her body? She could very easily scare someone just by flexing her guns.

"Is that right?" she asked, looking back to Velvet, who nodded at Tiella's words who was relaxing.

"Yes." she said, "I experienced for myself how she does it and it requires perfect unison and rhythm of motion in an _incredibly_ short amount of time to do. It's really straining..."

"Yyyeeup." Tiella nodded. "She's right."

"Not only that," she continued, "but it also needs a body that is conditioned to said movements. Imagine forcefully pulling on a rubber band that you put in a freezer overnight, that's how it felt like to me."

The rest of Team CFVY thought over the image provided to them and it helped to easily understand the consequences of someone who had no prior training with it beforehand to somehow attempt it.

"When you put it that way..." Coco said.

"...what you did..." Fox followed.

"...was extremely dangerous." Yatsuhashi ended.

The trio looked at Velvet with varying degrees of worry and anger.

Her eyes went wide as her ears shrunk and quivered, "I-I'm truly sorry!"

"Velvet you stupid bunny why did you do something so reckless!?"

"It's good that you now know better to prepare yourself should you attempt it again."

"Make sure to train your body like she did if you want to be able to fully use her style in the future."

Tiella watched in amusement as Coco grounded her knuckle between Velvet's ears while locking her in a choke hold.

"You've really done it this time, Chelly," Coco said in a grin, still holding a pleading Velvet in the choke hold.

She chose to remain silent, raising a questioning brow instead.

"Sure, you beat the 3rd seat of Beacon some days ago but Velvs here is ranked number one by a large margin among _all_ the 2nd years." she continued with a proud grin.

"You could say that she's Pyrrha Nikos for us second years," Fox added.

"The three of us believe that given time, Velvet would take the top spot in Beacon before graduation," Yatsuhashi commented.

"C-Coco, please..! I-I need to bre-" she gasped.

"Soon as news about you beating my Velvet spreads, you can expect a few changes from the students here," Coco said, ignoring Velvet's pleas as she switched from a chokehold to a camel clutch.

"That's great and all but I think you're gonna knock her out faster than I could have in our spar."

"This is her punishment for being so reckless." she said, "You understand me, Velvs!? Next time you do stupid shit like that again I'm gonna take away your weapon!"

"N-No!" she wheezed, "No! P-Please!" she gasped, "N-Not my weapon! I've... I've been building it up si-... since the beginning of th- the first semester!"

"Speaking of which," she looked up, thinking back to a few minutes earlier, "you wanted to spar because I said I've never seen you fight and much less your weapon, right?"

"Y-Yes," she said in a sigh of relief as she was released from Coco's wrestling holds, "my weapon is called Pandora's Box, or Pandora or PB for short, and it's a camera that lets me produce physical light copies of the weapons I've taken photos of."

Tiella's eyebrows shot up as she whispered in barely hidden amazement, "Damn, I don't know how that works but that sounds amazing."

"T-Thank you," she smiled demurely. "but the downside is that the light copies disappear after a few seconds, so I have to manage its use and make sure not to just spend it all willy-nilly."

"So that's why you went with training weapons today."

"Y-Yes, that's correct."

"That sounds real interesting, V." she smiled casually, "And if you pair it with your Semblance... you're pretty much a jack of all trades."

"Or a one trick bunny." Coco teased.

"Coco!" Velvet pouted.

"True, true." she nodded a few times after a short laugh.

"You, too, Tiella?" she turned from them and crossed her arms, "Just you two wait! Just from this spar alone, I've learned more ways of improving myself _far_ beyond any random spar I've had in all my previous combat classes."

"Uh, oh." Coco smiled wryly, looking between Velvet and Tiella. "Looks like you've gotten her all riled up now, Chelly. You bad girl, you."

"Yeah, sure, okay." she rolled her eyes, "I'm totally gonna take the blame for that even if you teased her first. And yeah, I'm totally a bad girl, I might need a leash or something."

"Are you into that?" Coco asked, tilting her shades down to look at Tiella with a raised brow and a wide and salacious grin.

"Who knows?" she grinned cheekily, looking away.

"Oh, I think _I_ might know more than you think I know."

"Oh, really?" she raised her brow doubtfully.

Coco pulled Tiella closer to her until she could put her arm over her shoulder and whispered, taking her a few steps away from the boys, though she knew Velvet would still hear them clearly, "I saw what you and Goodwitch were doing last Friday night."

"Oh," she grinned wryly, " _damn._ " whispering as well, "She made me eat peanut butter on dried sardines the next day for that." she said, earning a disgusted look from Coco and a few coughs from Velvet, "What did you see, exactly?"

Coco shook her head to clear the thought of eating peanut butter on dried sardines away and gave Tiella a few reassuring taps on her shoulder, "Oh, you know... just you giving our Esteemed Deputy Headmistress _hickeys_ on her nape for days."

"Was it just you who saw us that night?"

"Me and Velvet," she said, looking back at Velvet who was blushing up a storm while pointedly trying her best to not look at them.

"Mind not spreading it around?" she pleaded, "I mean, I really wouldn't mind if it's just me but Glynda's got this strict professor reputation to uphold."

"Chelly, my dear, would you really think _so low_ of me?" she feigned hurt, "I'm may _love_ listening to gossip but I'll _never_ be the one to spread it," she turned to look at Velvet and spoke a little louder, "isn't that right, Velvs?"

Velvet remained silent with her back turned to them but she slightly tilted her head to the side and nodded a few quick times to answer.

"So, there you have it," she said, giving Tiella a few more reassuring taps on the shoulder before letting her go. She put a hand on her waist and grinned back at her, "Just know that you have my and Velvet's support."

"Uuuhhhhh-I don't know what you're talking about." she looked away with pursed lips, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Really, girl?" giving her 'the look', "You're still gonna feign ignorance on me?"

Tiella remained looking away, pursing her lips further with eyebrows scrunched and raised, contemplating whether to just be honest with Coco or not.

Coco sighed and shook her head—disappointed in Tiella's indecision. She walked back to Velvet and grabbed her wrist to take her back to Tiella.

"Velvs, look at this girl."

"O-Okay." Velvet nodded, though she was unsure of what was going on.

"Tall, red, and _badass_."

Velvet remained silent, just looking between a somewhat pouting Coco and a confused Tiella, unsure of how to answer. Luckily for her, Coco wasn't really waiting for an answer.

"She just beat you in a spar and apparently, she uses _such_ a _high-level_ technique that anyone who'd dare to use said technique but hasn't had any similar training as her would risk tearing their bodies apart."

"R-Right." she nodded, rubbing her arm gingerly. All the while, Tiella still looked confused.

"But as soon as we talk about her crush, she turns into this super innocent tween that looks like she's just experiencing her first love!" she yelled, waving her hands at Tiella animatedly, catching the attention of Yatsuhashi and Fox.

"Wha-"

"C-Coco, I don't think it's any of our business what Tiella does with her love li-"

" _Wrong!_ " she yelled, surprising the meek girl, "It's _my_ business! I've invested time and her money to butter her up by getting her a closet full of lingerie to choose from just in case something like this happens! And it's happening!"

Tiella and Velvet stood dumbfounded while Fox and Yatsuhashi tried to ignore what the girls were talking about as Coco ranted further, "But all I get is a shy, indecisive girl that looks like she's still unsure of whether she's got a thing for Goodwitch or not!" she stepped closer to Tiella and elbowed her lightly on the side and grinned, "I don't blame you, by the way, Goodwitch is _drop dead gorgeous._ "

She backed off again, leaving Tiella unable to say anything as her mouth hung agape, "And from what I've been seeing this past week, she always gets a little livelier when you're with her." she said with a wiggle of her eyebrows. "Don't you think that means something for you, Chelly?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean—I do a pretty good job of annoying her." she smiled proudly.

"That," she pointed out, " _or_ there might be some mutual feelings being held back between the two of you for _some unknown reason_."

Tiella squinted her eyes at the grinning girl while pursing her lips in thought, "Okay, _fine_. I'll play along. Let's say I _do_ have feelings for Glynda, which I _don't_ , and she has feelings for me as well, which I'm pretty sure she _doesn't_ , what do you propose I do, oh great Love Guru?"

Velvet's eyes widened and her mouth immediately opened to speak in fear for Tiella but was cut off by Coco before she could, "One, I like the name." she said, holding her index finger up.

"I can't believe thi-"

"Two, I'm glad you asked, girl! Let Love Guru Coco help you out." she said, putting a reassuring hand over Tiella's shoulder, "Soon as I'm done with you, you'll be pissing people off with your PDA."

"C-Coco? Umm, you're meddling in someone else's love affairs aga-"

"Up, up, up, up, up!" she interrupted with a hand, "Velvet, I know you're worried," placing both hands on Velvet's shoulders, earning her an immediate nod from the bunny girl, "but listen to me for a second here." earning another nod from Velvet and an incredulous look from Tiella, "Chelly strikes me as the kind of girl that goes on one night stands just to release some pent up sexual frustrations the moment flicking the bean to some fantasy over getting her muffins buttered just won't cut it for her."

Velvet's face easily turned beet red the longer she listened to Coco while Tiella could only look away with pursed lips again.

 _"Damn... This girl's so spot on it's scary."_

"And I bet she doesn't even care with who she does it with!"

"Hey! You make me sound like a slut!"

Ignoring Tiella, Coco continued explaining to Velvet, "So, to stop her from potentially making friends with benefits of the people of this academy,"

"Now you're just making me sound like I'm some turbo slut. I've got a fair bit of integrity, for your information!"

"I've taken it upon myself to contribute to this society as a useful member by getting our beloved girl, Chelly, laid with the only person we know she's got the hots on right this moment."

"Velvet! A little help, please? I wouldn't just pick up the next poor sap that looks at me funny for a good dicking, okay!? I've got higher standards than that!"

"Like what? The prostitutes at high-class casinos?" she teased with a raised brow.

" _Exactly-_ Wait, no! I mean, _sure_ , I've done that before bu-"

"Up, up, up, up, up! Shut up, girl! You're worse than I thought!" she cut in, "I was just joking about the casino strip girls but wow, okay. You don't get a say in this anymore. You're getting a girlfriend and she's gonna be the love of your life."

"I'm sorry, what? How are you even sure she's 'the one'!? Aren't you jumping too many guns here!?"

"Tut, tut, tut." she grinned, shaking her index finger at Tiella, "That's where you're wrong, kiddo."

"Oh, _yeah?_ " she doubted, giving her an incredulous look.

" _Oh, yeah_ 'oh, _yeah_ '." she crossed her arms and casually looked at her fingernails while still grinning, "I've seen the way you look at Goodwitch."

That particular statement caught Tiella off guard, like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What's the matter?" she teased, "Cat got your tongue?" she shrugged her shoulders smugly and continued, "Those sneaky little side glances you give Goodwitch when you're sitting next to each other in Combat Class? That look of pure bliss and contentment oozing from your uncharacteristically gentle smile when you're looking at her from just a step behind her as you both walk the hallways?"

"I-"

"How you always give her that pervy grin whenever you're teasing her? But when she rolls her eyes and focuses back on her thing to ignore you, you blush up a storm looking away from her because you can't stop turning your 'pervy grin' to a 'shy smile' like you're some cherry girl sitting next to her crush on a bus?"

"That's no-"

"How you love, _love_ , _**looove**_ talking about how delicious her home cooked meals are as if living with her is the _best_ thing to ever happen to your life so far?"

"Shut u-"

"And just now, how you immediately looked out for her when I told you I found out about how you got shitfaced drunk and gave her hickeys while she carried you on the way back to your apartment?"

"..."

"Face it, girl, you're in too deep already."

"..."

"Umm... Coco?"

"Yes, Velvs?"

"I think you overdid it."

Coco tilted her head in confusion at Velvet's words before she looked back at Tiella, making her eyebrows shoot up in mild surprise.

"Oh, dear." She grinned, "Chelly, you're being real _adorable_ right now, you know?"

"Shut up." She weakly said as she squat in the middle of the arena, hugging her knees to hide her face from view while idly dragging her finger on the ground in circles.

Velvet smiled while Coco laughed. They both leaned over her as they heard her say something but couldn't make it out due to how muffled it was.

"I'm sorry, Tiella, could you say that again?" Velvet asked, tilting one ear towards her.

"I said, it's not that easy," she said a little clearer, face still hidden behind hugged knees.

"That's what they all say." Coco rolled her eyes and teased.

Tiella remained silent for a moment while shuffling in place. She raised her face to look at them both, catching them off guard with her blank expression. She looked down on the ground again, avoiding eye contact between them and said, "I can't be with Glynda."

 _"Can't?"_ they both thought, thinking that it was a somewhat odd choice of word.

"What do you mean?" Velvet asked almost whisper-like, a little anxious about the answer she was about to hear. Coco waited patiently with her arms crossed as she looked down on Tiella for an answer.

Tiella shifted in place again, sitting Indian-style on the arena with her hands clutched together between her legs, idly playing with her thumbs. "I don't really wanna talk about it," she said glumly.

Velvet and Coco gave each other raised brows in confusion. Coco wanted to learn more so she spoke again but before she could, she was cut off by a hand and a knowing smile from Velvet who was slightly shaking her head at her.

"I'm happy the both of you are willing to support me and stuff about it... but right now, I'm fine with how things are. Anything more is asking for too much." she continued, tone carrying a hint of sadness. "That's how I feel about it."

Coco let out a huff through her nose in reluctant acceptance while Velvet smiled sadly at her words. "That's okay, Tiella. You don't have to if you don't want to," she said reassuringly.

"Yeah, alright, I'll stay quiet for now." Coco said, a little annoyed, "Just know that we're here, and I've got a plan to help you out, got that?"

"Yeah." Giving them a quick half smile.

Velvet offered a hand to Tiella to help her. She saw the hand and took it while her eyes stayed downcast. While pulling the tall girl up, she heard Tiella speak to no one in particular under her breath in the most resigned tone she's heard the girl speak with yet and it wrenched at her heart.

 _"What do you mean 'I don't deserve that kind of life, anyway'? Why wouldn't you? I don't understand."_

She saw Tiella was almost standing upright so she tried to hide the sadness and confusion in her face behind a smile as Tiella gave her a casual smile in return. Coco, who was watching the short interaction from the side, was _displeased_.

She knew Velvet heard something and tried to hide it but she also noticed that Tiella's casual smile looked incredibly forced as she greeted Velvet.

 _"She heard me. Fuck."_

 _"What should I do? She knew I heard her."_

 _"They're hiding something and I need to know what."_

A tension came over them, making the air around them feel rather awkward as they all worried over what they'd just heard and saw. The boys, who were standing just a few meters away, couldn't really understand what had just happened but they could at least tell that _something_ happened.

Unable to bear the awkward tension any longer, Tiella opted to be the first to break the silence, "But I guess I should at least let you know that she knows about it already."

"You've 'fessed up already?" Coco asked with a raised brow. "That just ruined my plans for your perfect confession!"

"Well, _excuuuuuse_ me, _Love Guru_." giving Coco an annoyed glare, "I just can't help flirting when I know that we're alone together, okay?" she smiled wryly, "She's got this thing going for her that just... I dunno, makes me do stuff I wouldn't normally wanna do, you get me?"

"Yeah, I guess?"

"Because, I'll be honest with you, I really don't like all that flirting and romance stuff. The only reason I've ever had sex before was to relieve some stress like you guessed. All my past relationships have always been about it. I'm in a dangerous line of work where my next mission could always be my last and fuck me if I die because I'm horny and distracted."

"Wow," Coco put her hands on her waist, brows raised with pursed lips, "you're _really_ in love with her."

"Could you, like, fuckin' _not?_ " her cheeks blushing red.

"You're _balls deep_ in love with Goodwitch."

"Coco? Can we _please_ not talk about boys' members?" Velvet pleaded, face beet red once again. " _Please?_ "

"Sorry, Velvs," she smiled at Velvet, "but it's been too long since I've seen someone _so in love_. It's so refreshing and adorable and the gap between 'brutish lamppost' and 'in-love tween' is so large that it's too cute for words." she said, almost squealing in delight.

"I'm going to hit you if it'll make you shut up."

"You can try but, whatever," rolling her eyes, "okay."

Velvet clapped her hands loud with a smile, face still a little red, "Why don't we get something to eat?"

"Yeah, I'm a little hungry after all that moving."

"I just had breakfast so I might pass but I can take another cup of coffee. What about you boys? Care to join us for breakfast?"

Fox and Yatsuhashi looked to Coco, looked at each other, then looked back at her again before Fox spoke up for the both of them, "I think we'll do some exercising in the gym."

"Yes, your spar made us want to try something new as well."

"Alright, don't overdo it, okay? You know the rules." Coco said, earning a nod from the boys. She turned from them and back to the girls, "You heard them, it'll be just us girls again."

"Sure, nothing doing." Tiella shrugged, "Just let us change first."

"Sure."

Velvet nodded at the consensus, easily following beside Tiella as they walked towards the locker room for a quick shower before changing back into their casual clothes.

15 minutes later and it was already 8:19 am. They were out of the locker rooms and on their way to the cafeteria for a quick meal. Along the way they passed the time away with more idle jokes and chatter—talking about random things in their daily lives such as school work, or in Tiella's case, work in general, tips and tricks with working out effectively with and without Aura, which shop had the best selection of clothes for the type of fashion each of them preferred, among other things.

They chattered some more, long after they've finished eating before they went their separate ways—Tiella headed back to her apartment while Coco and Velvet went back to their dorm. On their way back, Coco and Velvet talked about some things.

"Velvs?"

"Yes, Coco?"

"What did you hear?"

Velvet didn't answer immediately, contemplating the words in her head again. She'd expected Coco would want to learn about what she'd heard sooner than later, but it didn't make things any easier for her to talk about it. She had a worried look over her face as she stayed silently pensive but Coco was willing to wait for Velvet to answer her. The walk to their dorm was short, but they'd be alone until the boys came back which meant they'd have quite a bit of time alone until then.

"I'm not sure if I should be telling you—if I should be telling anyone, even," she said, her ears drooping forward. A sign of her sadness and distress—how her ears moved always was a good indication of what she felt. "I feel that it's too private a topic and especially with how she said it under her breath like that... it makes me wonder."

"..."

"I just-... I just don't know, Coco. I don't know what to do." she looked up to Coco with a morose expression, "My friend is hurting but I don't know what to do."

Coco wore a blank expression, considering the weight of her partner's words. On one hand, she wanted to know because she wanted to help, on the other, she wanted to respect Tiella's decision despite her being initially against and pushy about it. She crossed her arms and sighed,

"She's my friend, too, Velvs."

They stayed silent until they reached the dorm. They both sat next to each other on Velvet's bed. Velvet hugged her pillow and rested her chin upon it while Coco lied down on her back right next to Velvet, brushing her bangs aside as she looked up on the ceiling.

"I..."

"..?"

"I heard her say that... she said—and with _so_ little hope in _such_ a weak voice—that she _'didn't deserve that kind of life'_."

Coco abruptly got up with an elbow on her side to get to eye level with Velvet, surprised and confused. She sent her a silent questioning look, prompting Velvet to continue.

"She said under her breath that she didn't deserve it. I don't know what she meant. I don't know why she'd so willingly deprive herself of happiness. _Why_ is she so guilty? _What's_ she guilty of? What made her lock herself away?" she hugged her pillow closer, her ears drooping lower as her voice got more and more emotional as she went on. "It's clear to anyone that she's in love."

"Velvet..."

"But it doesn't look like she's avoiding it because she's embarrassed or anything... and if you'd heard the way she said it, too." Velvet hid her face in her pillow, ears drooping even lower.

Coco sat upright and put her arm over Velvet's shoulders to pull her closer for a hug.

"I want to help her but I don't know how... I don't even know if she'd be happy if we tried to help her. Would we be overstepping if we did? Would we actually be helping if we tried? I don't know, I just don't know..."

Coco pulled Velvet's head under her chin and gently stroked her head, "Sheesh... that girl can be such a handful." she smiled wryly. "You, too, you know that? You can be such an emotional little bunny but you're super cute so you get a pass."

"Coco, please," she whined.

"We've only known Chelly for a few days. We can learn more about her bit by bit as we go."

"Except this isn't the kind of thing someone would willingly speak about in a casual conversation."

"You're right—we can always take her out in Vale, get her drunk, then make her spill."

"Coco!"

"I'm kidding! We'll probably get drunk faster than she would."

"It feels like you aren't taking this seriously..." she pouted.

Coco squeezed Velvet a little bit and stroked her hair before she idly played with its tips. "You know I'm serious about this, girl. It's just that I don't know what to do, too. So, all I can do is what I know I can do, and that is to be patient with our resident tall girl."

"..."

"Don't worry, she'll come around."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I'm Mama Coco and it's my job to make sure my teammate isn't worrying herself to death over something she has no control over at the moment."

She laughed softly, "That doesn't really answer my question, dummy."

"Didn't I just tell you that I don't know, too?" she laughed as well, "Just trust me for now, okay? Have faith in Mama Coco."

Velvet giggled, tickling Coco's face with her ears, "Whatever you say, Mama Coco."

Coco buried her face in Velvet's hair in between her ears.

 _"Geez, girl... you're making my Velvet worry over you. I don't know what you went through but I'm gonna make sure you get your well-deserved break from wallowing in your self-pity."_

* * *

 _"She heard me."_

Tiella was taking the long way back to her apartment by going around the school.

 _"Shit. I want out. Maybe I should move out? Except I can't because moving in with Glynda is my punishment. God damn it. I can't resign either. God damn Ozpin and his fuckin' leash. Haaaa... I wanna go back to my old team. At least with them, I just need to worry about who I'm gonna kill."_

She scowled at the thought, kicking a pebble on the pavement away.

 _"See, this is why you don't deserve that kinda life. The only thing you're good for is killing."_

She sighed and took out her earphones, listening to her shuffled playlist instead to help her focus on something else.

 _You're the direction I follow to get home..._

 _"What the fuck."_

Tiella immediately checked her phone and saw that the song currently playing was '6 Months by Hey Monday'.

 _"When did I put this sap-fest into my- Lillianne. She did this. God damn it."_

 _And it's like I can't feel a thing without you around_

 _Don't mind me if I get weak in the knees 'cause you have that effect on me_

 _You do..._

 _"Well... it's not_ _ **that**_ _bad."_

 _Everything you say, every time we kiss I can't think straight_

 _"Wow, that's_ _ **sappy**_ _. It's sappy but I sort of like it. Okay fine, it can stay. Lillianne has great taste in music, no denying that. Even Bardel, I guess."_

Tiella idly looked through her shuffled playlist, skimming up and down for nothing in particular. She locked her phone without doing anything more and simply focused on the lyrics of the song as she continued her walk back to her apartment.

 _Meant to be together_

 _Meant for no one but each other_

 _You love me, I love you harder_

 _So..._

 _"Oh my god."_

Tiella cringed and blushed and felt tingly on the inside as she continued listening.

 _"No._

 _No._

 _No._

 _That's it, I'm changing it. I'll have none of this sap-fest putting butterflies in my stomach like it's nobody's fuckin' busine-"_

"Hey, Star!"

Tiella looked up from her phone and saw Yang with Blake walking up to her.

"What'chu doin'?"

"Nothing much," she said, putting away her earphones back into her pocket. "Anythin' you need?"

"Nope. Just saw you walkin' here all broody-looking."

"Was I?"

"Totally, right Blake?"

"It looked like you were ready to throw your music player away."

"See? She'd know, that's what she's good at. She's Blake Bellabroody."

"Yang, how long have you been waiting to use that?"

"A few weeks."

"Well, it's dumb."

Tiella laughed at their banter, earning an embarrassed smile from Blake and a big grin from Yang.

"Well," Tiella said, "it's probably because my playlist shuffled to a sappy song."

"Why'd you put a sappy song in there if you didn't like it in the first place?"

"My friend put it there by herself."

"Wow, really?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"I can't believe it."

"What?"

"You have friends?"

"I'm gonna hit a bitch, Blake, is that fine?"

"You have manners at least." She grinned, "Go ahead, knock yourself out."

"Blake, how _could_ you?" Yang cried.

In an instant, Tiella chopped Yang on the head swiftly but lightly.

"Ow, damn. That was fast." Yang said, fixing her fringes just the way she liked it—unkempt and sexy, "So,"

"Yeah?"

"what song was it?"

Tiella looked at Yang for a moment with pursed lips before she answered vaguely, "You wouldn't know it even if I told you."

Yang scoffed playfully, "I didn't know you were a _hipster._ " she teased.

Tiella raised an irked brow while maintaining her grin, "I'll give you all my savings if you can sing along to any of the songs here." she dared.

In a heartbeat, Yang took the 'music player' out of Tiella's hand. "Deal!"

Blake watched in curiosity as Yang wore Tiella's earphones. She saw Yang look at her for a second, then removed the earphones again. "Mind if I just..." Yang said, unplugging the earphones off. "There we go. Now Blakey can listen to them, too."

Blake sighed a little with a small smile, "Thanks, Yang."

"Alright, pick any song in there. Let's see if you can sing along." Tiella said while looking around, "But first, let's go somewhere we're not blocking the way."

"How about the garden?" Blake suggested.

"Sounds good."

They went to the garden and sat by a bench that was shaded by the trees. Yang held Tiella's 'music player' in her hand and slowly skimmed through her playlist, trying to see if she could find anything remotely recognizable.

 _"Whoah... she wasn't joking. I don't know anything here. I thought she was just acting all elitist and shit and that I could prove her wrong with my own knowledge about bands. Am I actually gonna lose this bet? That's a lot of dough!"_

Tiella watched in amusement as Yang's expression scowled the more she looked while Blake watched in confusion.

 _"Does Yang really know nothing? That's weird. She's the official music junkie of the team."_

 _"Toad The Wet Sprocket? Nirvana? Hey Monday? Phil Collins? James Ingram? The Calling? Coheed and Cambria? Earth, Wind, And Fire? Queen? Avril Lavigne? Who the hell are these people!? Hold up, Queen? That sounds familiar."_

Yang chose the first song of Queen that she saw from the playlist and listened to it intently. The music started off with the percussion which was slowly followed by the bass guitar.

 _Oh, let's go!_

 _Steve walks warily down the street_

 _With the brim pulled way down low_

 _Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet_

 _Machine guns ready to go_

 _Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this?_

 _Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?_

 _Out of the doorway, the bullets rip_

 _To the sound of the beat_

 _Another one bites the dust_

 _Another one bites the dust_

 _And another gone, and another one gone_

 _Another one bites the dust_

"Yeah, I don't know what this is." Yang said in frustration, "Are you, like, some kinda super hipster or something? I don't know a single one of these bands!"

"That'll be my little secret." She teased with a stuck out tongue.

"It sounds nice, though." she praised, liking the simple beats of the song.

"I know."

"What about you, Blakey? Recognize anything here? You might earn thousands in 5 minutes~"

Yang handed over Tiella's 'music player' to Blake and let her skim through her playlist. After a couple seconds of scrolling down, she played a song and held the 'music player' speaker-side up.

The song that played was a little unfamiliar even to Tiella at first, so she listened to the tune of the piano intently. After a few seconds, she heard the vocals come in and it was then that she remembered which one it was.

 _"Ah, My Immortal by Evanescence. That's a classic—Lillianne loves singing that."_

She looked at Blake who had this solemn look on her face as she listened to the song intently, almost making her wonder if she'd ever heard of it before despite its glaring impossibility.

"That's a pretty sappy song," Tiella commented.

"Yeah, but it's in your playlist." Yang retorted. "It's nice though, it sort of reminds me of Weiss' other songs."

"Weiss sings?" she asked in pleasant surprise.

"Uh, yeah? She's Weiss Schnee? Singer, songwriter, and composer of I Burn, Red Like Roses, From Shadows, and Mirror Mirror, just to name a few? You don't know them?"

"Never heard of 'em."

"Shush." Blake cut in, "I'm still listening."

"Okay, okay..." Yang rolled her eyes while Tiella chuckled softly.

 _When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears_

 _When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears_

 _And I held your hand through all of these years_

 _But you still have all of me_

"How about it, Blake? Do you know this song?" Tiella asked.

Blake absentmindedly looked back at Tiella, still captivated by the song that played. Offhandedly she answered, "No. I don't know it."

"Figures."

"But I like it, it's beautiful."

"Looks like it."

"Is the band name Evanescence?"

"Yup."

"' _The fear of a deceased loved one vanishing from memory_ ', it's quite the opposite from the message this song is delivering, ironically enough."

"What? What is?" Yang chimed.

"If you listened to the lyrics, it's singing about how some things are too painful, too many, for even time to erase, hence, the title 'My Immortal'."

"Oh."

"..."

"Was this what you were listening to?"

"No, it was a lot less sappier."

"Could you let me hear it as well?" Blake asked.

"I'm guessing that's your thing?" Tiella guessed, to which Blake easily nodded, "Sure, it's '6 Months' by Hey Monday."

Blake tried navigating through the 'music player' with a little bit of difficulty, so Tiella took it from her and searched the song for her instead. "Here ya go."

"Thank you." Blake listened to the song play for the most part and quite easily found herself enjoying it. "Can you send me all the songs you have that are like this?"

"Dunno, I guess we can try?"

"You're not sure?"

"That phone is a very old model and I'm not sure if it can sync with your scroll."

"Oh, this is a phone? I thought you said you lost it before coming here?"

"I lost my _scroll_. True, I still have that but I can't really use it to call other scrolls. It uses different signals."

"Why would you use something like this, then? Is this supposed to be a heavily encrypted device used to store some extensively confidential data like your previous missions?"

"Something like that, but really, it's just an old incompatible model phone."

"Why would you use it as your playlist?" Yang asked.

"What's it called?" Blake queried.

"An Android. And I didn't have anything else, I guess?"

"So, you can't really send stuff with it to scrolls?" Yang chimed.

"Probably, haven't tried."

"Let's try it. Come on, Blake, get your scroll out."

"It's like you're more excited than me or something when I'm the one asking for the songs."

"Yeah, but I'm also super curious about these unknown songs!" She beamed, "I wanna see if I can find out more about 'em on the net!"

 _"Oh shit. I didn't think this through, did I? They're gonna scour the net looking for things that don't exist and they're gonna keep asking me about it when they found out that they don't exist. Leave it to me to find out ways to put myself in tight spots. Fuck me."_

"What's wrong, Star? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"N-Nothing." she swallowed thickly, "It's nothing important."

"Are you su-"

"Anyway, let's try syncing."

For the next few minutes, Tiella, Blake, and Yang tried finding ways to sync their scrolls to the phone but ended up being unable to. They were about to give up until Tiella had an idea.

"Wait, do you guys have any social media platforms you frequently use?"

"Like Facebook?" Yang guessed.

"Are you serious?" she asked incredulously.

"W-What?" surprised by the sudden question.

 _"Shit."_ she panicked, "N-Nothing. I was just- uh, just-, y'know..."

"Juuust..?" Yang drawled, both she and Blake looking at Tiella funny.

"I-It's nothing, I thought I heard something else. You said Facebook, right?"

"Yeah," still eyeing Tiella doubtfully, "don't you have one?"

"Nope," she answered with pursed lips.

"Are _you_ serious?" Yang's turn to ask incredulously. "I'm starting to think you're a country hick from some backwaters village so far removed from the four kingdoms that you've had little to no interaction outside of it or something."

"You're not wrong..." she said weakly.

"What?" Yang said while earning a raised brow from Blake.

"But that's beside the point." she dismissed with a wave.

"Are you thinking of uploading the music files into Facebook for us to download instead?" Blake guessed.

"Maybe?" she smiled wryly.

"Unless you can connect your phone to Beacon's WiFi or at the very least have enough data to be able to access the internet, then that won't be a problem."

"Shit, you're right." Tiella sighed, "Guess I'll ask Peach for help again."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Oh, nothing much. Peach made the charger to my phone after I lost it some time ago. I couldn't see any stores selling the specific charger I needed, so I asked Glynda and she pointed me towards Peach."

"Oh, you don't have to go that far." Blake smiled, "I'd be fine with you letting me borrow your phone from time to time if that's okay with you?"

"And that's the problem, it's not." she smiled regretfully, "I would if I could but a lot of the stuff in here is classified."

 _"Classified like a literal other world."_

"Right," she smiled sadly, "I forgot."

"But don't worry, I'll find a way." smiling reassuringly.

"Thank you." Blake smiled gratefully.

"By the way..." Yang cut in with a pensive look.

"Yeah?"

"How come you call Goodwitch with her first name but every other professor with their last names?"

"I've got a professional relationship with the other professors as their colleague here at Beacon but with Glynda, I can at least say that we're friends."

"So, you _do_ know Professor Goodwitch from before Beacon?" Yang asked, "I remember you said you had a rough start before."

"That's right." she smiled wryly, remembering the time she'd been squeezed and twisted like a lemon. It was a painful memory she half wanted to forget. The only reason she could look back on it somewhat fondly was because her relationship with Glynda so far had improved so much.

"And you said that you'd tell me when we're not surrounded by Grimm." Yang grinned.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you." Tiella gave in. "It's nothing particularly long or exciting, though. So, don't get your hopes up."

"Okay."

Yang and Blake wore attentive looks on their faces as they waited for Tiella to begin recounting.

"Basically, I was on a solo mission out a couple months back. I ran into some trouble in that mission, I can't tell you the details, just know that I had a hard time." she said, diffusing any questions the two had for her concerning her so-called 'mission'.

"So, anyways, in the middle of that mission, I came _this_ close," emphasized with a tiny gap between her thumb and index finger, "to getting some _stupid_ civilians hurt because they thought that fucking in a Grimm-infested forest was kinky or some shit."

Yang cackled while Blake smiled wryly at the thought.

"They ran away, called to the nearest active huntsmen at the time to report some 'psycho that was hunting villagers that strayed too far', and guess who was there to answer?"

"Professor Goodwitch?" Yang guessed.

"Professor Ozpin." she grinned, _"If I'm gonna tell a lie, I might as well have fun with it."_

She looked at the mild surprise from her two listeners in amusement and continued, "So, Ozpin was there, on some 'business' he said to me but I'm betting he was there to take a vacation. We met in the forest after I finished my mission, we talked for a bit and diffused the misunderstanding easily."

"Okay, but when does Professor Goodwitch come in?" Yang asked.

"Right here," she said, "as soon as we got back to the village, we were planning to explain the situation to the villagers, but as it turned out, those same horny fucks told another huntress about their stupid misunderstanding."

"And that's Professor Goodwitch."

"And that was Glynda, yeah." she affirmed, "When she saw me walking behind Ozpin, she immediately attacked me with her Semblance and squeezed me like a friggin' lemon."

She noted the half amused half pained expression on Yang's face while Blake kept her wry smile.

"Yes, Yang, it was painful as fuck. Imagine getting your arm twisted until your bones creaked and your muscles tore but instead it happened to your whole body." she nodded at Yang and Blake cringing at her story, "So, anyway, she kept squeezing and twisting me until Ozpin talked to her and explained things before she let me go. I was about to complain when Glynda picked me up again with her Semblance and threw me away."

"Harsh." Yang winced.

"To be fair, I did call her a certain name she didn't exactly like."

"What was it?" she asked giddily.

"I tell you, she somehow finds out, and I get my ass twisted again?" giving Yang an incredulous look, "No thanks, I choose life."

"But how did you become so close?" Blake asked.

"Ozpin offered me a scholarship in this academy that day but I declined, but then I offered my services to him if he ever it and he said he'd keep it in mind. Fast forward to up until over a week ago and I remembered him. I needed some help, so I contacted him to see if he had a job for me and, lucky me, he did."

"You mean to tell me we could have been classmates right now?" Yang asked incredulously. "That's crazy."

"I know, right? Dodged a bullet right there." she teased, earning a pout from Yang and a laugh from Blake, "So, anyway, I did something stupid and as punishment, I have to live with Glynda in her apartment."

"Really?" Blake asked, "Wouldn't that normally mean bad for you both?"

"Usually, yeah. But she's a sport and, well, I'm me—who could _ever_ resist me, right?" she grinned cheekily, earning eye rolls and head shakes from both girls. "Right." she laughed as well, "So, there you have it. We became good friends after living together for a few days now."

"Are you sure that's everything, Star?" Yang asked cheekily, leaning in close to Tiella's face. "Are you sure that's _all_ the reason you're so close? You two look like you're a _lot_ closer than just plain ol' _'good friends'_."

Unfazed, Tiella looked back at her blankly, "What are you talking about."

"Oh, nothing." Yang leaned back, flipping her hair away with a flourish before crossing her arms. "Just that I've noticed something juicy here and there."

"Yang, I don't care about rumors, if that's what we're gonna be talking about."

"Yang, what are you talking about?"

"Don't you two worry about it, it's nothing like some stupid rumor or gossip... it's just something I found out myself." She leaned in again while speaking a little softer.

Tiella remained silent, unsure whether she should bite Yang's bait while Blake started wondering what it could be.

"Also, I'm pretty sure Blake's noticed it, too." she grinned.

"What?" Blake asked, even more confused.

Patience running out, Tiella spoke, "Just speak."

"Long version or the short version?" Yang asked, still wearing her cheeky grin.

"Keep it short or don't talk at all," Tiella replied curtly.

"You've got a crush on Goodwitch." she grinned.

Tiella's eyes widened as soon as she heard Yang's words—cheeks dyed red, she yelled, "Oh, for _fuck's sake!_ " slapping her own forehead hard.

Blake had the proverbial light bulb moment and grinned alongside Yang.

"Now that you mention it," Blake said, looking at Yang, then to Tiella. "you're right. I _did_ notice it."

Tiella glared back at the two girls with an exasperated look on her face. "How am I this obvious!?"

"Have you tried not staring too much? It makes you look less _lovestruck_." Yang cheekily advised.

"Are you _fuckin'_ kidding me!?"

"What are you so mad about?" Blake asked a little warily, "Were you trying to hide it from everyone?"

"No," she shook her head to calm down, "no, sorry. It's just-" she sighed once more, earning weird looks from them both. "I _literally_ just had this conversation with Coco, like, 2 hours ago."

"For real?" Yang asked in surprise.

"Wow."

"Sorry- I just-" she put her hands on her face, slowly pulling it down as she inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I'm just gonna come out clean so you guys can stop asking me about it."

"Okay." Yang grinned.

"If that's fine with you," Blake said, unsure of whether pursuing this topic of conversation was the right idea.

"I'm in love with Glynda," she said matter-of-factly, earning a squeal from Yang while she elbowed Blake's side lightly.

"Yes, Yang, I heard it, too," Blake said in annoyance, though she, too, was wearing a smile at the affirmation.

"She already knows I've got the hots for her," Tiella continued in that same monotone, earning surprised looks from both girls.

"Oh my god, rea-" Yang exclaimed but was cut off by a hand from Tiella.

"but we're not in a relationship."

"What?" Yang leaned, her turn to feel exasperated. " _Why not!?_ "

"For reasons _I_ don't need to disclose to _you_ or _anyone_." she dismissed, tone bearing no room for arguments.

"Bu-"

"Yang." Blake cut in with a clear voice, earning a questioning look from her. She met Yang's gaze with a serious look and a shake of her head.

Confused with Blake's gesture, she looked back to Tiella and found that her scowling at the ground and it caught her off guard. She just wanted a simple love talk between girls to learn more about her, not accidentally stepping on a _landmine_. She looked back to Blake with pursed lips, worried she'd made her favorite Beacon staff hate her.

She heard Tiella sigh as she scratched the back of her head, "Thanks, Yang, Blake... aaand I'm sorry for getting mad like that—you didn't know, not your fault." she smiled sadly, "I'm grateful that you girls are willing to support me and all... but right now, I'm fine. Everything's fine. I'm not looking for a relationship, okay?" she said, almost pleadingly.

Yang hesitated to answer for a moment, wondering whether she should push for it or just follow Tiella's wishes—but before she could answer, Blake did it for her already.

"We understand. And if you're worried about it spreading, you don't have to—only a handful of us have noticed and we're not really fond of gossiping." Blake reassured with a smile.

"Thanks." she smiled a little more casually. "And, well, not that I was actively trying to hide it or anything... I just don't feel like broadcasting it either, you feel me?"

"Yeah," Yang nodded, "yeah, we feel you."

"So, yeah... you can talk to Coco and Velvet about it if you want or something, I dunno, I don't really care anymore," she said, looking away from Blake and Yang. "Who else knows, by the way?"

"Team JNPR and Weiss," Blake said, "I'm not sure if there's anyone else outside of our circle of friends but I'm positive that Ruby just thinks you're really close friends," she said, smiling at the thought.

For the nth time already, Tiella sighed exasperatedly once more. "Okay... okay. Might as well believe that everyone at Beacon knows because of how stupid obvious I apparently am but they just don't care. Okay... I'm okay with this—I can live with this."

Suddenly, she felt vibrations in her pocket. Welcoming the distraction from the somewhat heavy topic, she fished out her scroll. "Ruby sent me a message," she said, earning the two's attention.

"What's it say?" Yang asked.

"[Hey, Tiella! I just finished the first prototype for your climbing gloves, are you free to try it out now? I'm pretty much free for the rest of the day so just let me know when you're ready. I'll be in the dorm with Weiss.] she said."

"Oh, right, she woke up early today to work on that," Yang said. "Not to spoil anything but you're in for a real treat with that one."

"Sweet," she smiled happily, "you girls mind taking me to your dorm?"

"Are you sure?" Yang grinned cheekily, "Goodwitch won't get mad at us if we do?"

"Yang!" Blake called out, lightly hitting Yang on the arm.

" _Whaaat?_ " she shrugged, "Too soon?"

"Yeah, right." Tiella stood, lightly slapping Yang on the top of her head.

"Ow! Hey!" she whined, "No touching the hair!" she pouted.

"Whatever you say, matchstick." she grinned, earning a laugh from Blake. "Come on, you girls lead the way."

"Sure." Blake nodded, easily leading in front of Tiella to leave Yang on the bench. "Do you want to have lunch with us after?"

"Yeah," she said, following just a step behind Blake, "maybe after I test out the glove."

"Are you fine with the cafeteria?"

"Yup, but I can also just treat you girls out in Vale if you have the time. Because I'm _real_ free today."

"Speaking of which, Weiss mentioned that you two went out yesterday."

"Hey!" Yang called out from behind them.

"Oh, yeah. That was a pretty funny day out in Vale."

"Blake?"

"Oh?" Blake grinned, "Weiss said that you didn't do much aside from eating calamari together."

"Star?"

"Did she now?" she grinned back, "Why don't I tell you about what happened during lunch?"

"Lunch and a funny story as a side dish? Gladly."

"Wait up!" she yelled, quickly jogging after them. "I wanna hear about your date with Weiss, too!"

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has to be my favorite game so far._

 _It's highly challenging but also very rewarding, making for a very engaging and unforgettable experience. It's nostalgic because of the Souls-like gameplay but it has enough of a minor but massively significant change added into it that makes me believe it has the most fluid combat system in any game I've ever played since I started gaming as a hobby as a child._

 _I can talk about Sekiro and all but this isn't really a place to do that. Alongside the beautiful distraction that was Sekiro, I also had a few things to take care of in my private life that made me put writing this chapter in a little bit of a hold. But that doesn't mean I'm taking a break from it!_

 _Rest assured, I'm always thinking about Lost Star and how to properly flesh it out._

 _Can you tell me which part you liked in this chapter? Which part you thought could have been done better? What do you think of Tiella and Velvet's spar? Do you believe it's an exaggeration for me to say that she could easily be number one among all 2nd years at Beacon? Does it feel like I'm forcing Tiella and Glynda?_

 _Do let me know your thoughts in the reviews! I highly appreciate all forms of proper feedback._

 _Thank you, once again, for reading another chapter of Lost Star! I hope to see you soon._


	20. Chapter 20

Tiella opened and closed her left hand a few times, stretching it to get a feel for the new glove she asked of Ruby to make. It looked quite simple in design which is exactly what Tiella was hoping for—black leather with padded metal knuckles. It wasn't like her usual choice of fingerless tactical gloves, but considering it's made to have claws for climbing, it's an understandable design choice, or so she believed.

She pulled on the glove to set it snug on her hand before she fastened the small belts at the underside of her forearm to keep it in place. The vambrace part of the glove was made of metal as well, protectively covering the upper part of her forearm.

"This looks nice, Little Rose."

"Hehe, glad you liked it. Let me know if there are any adjustments you think it needs."

"Sure, sure." she said offhandedly, curiously eyeing the glove, "What made you choose to make one for my left hand? Don't people normally go for the right hand?"

"I noticed that you hit harder with your left-hand punches than your right-hand punches." Ruby said, remembering some of the spars she'd observed Tiella was on, "Also when you were teaching me, you were blocking me with your left arm," she shrugged, "so, I thought, 'maybe she's left-handed and stuff', and made it like that. I didn't worry too much because it looked like you're used to fighting with either left or right-hand dominant stances."

"That's real sharp of you, Little Rose. You've been observing me that much? Is it just me or do you do that with everyone else?"

"Hehe, thanks." shyly scratching the back of her head, "And I make sure I watch all the spars in combat class closely. It's just so interesting and amazing to see how other people use their weapons in conjunction with their Aura and Semblance and it's just incredible an-"

"Okay, I get it." she chuckled.

"S-Sorry, hehe."

Tiella smiled and did as she was told beforehand—she flicked her wrist outward while stretching her fingers open, unlocking the springs inside the vambrace to release the metal claws on all five fingers of the gloves, each one reaching between 3-4 centimeters in length.

"Beautiful." She said in barely hidden astonishment, earning another shy laugh and proud smile from Ruby.

She flicked her wrist inward, resetting the coils within the vambrace to sheathe the claws back behind the fingertips of the glove. She repeated this process of releasing and retracting the claws a few more times, the smile on her face growing wider every time she did. The action Ruby gladly took in as a sign that she did a good job.

With how it's half metal, one could argue that it's a gauntlet instead—though to Tiella, it didn't matter. Because it was time to make sure it worked as intended.

"Alright, looks like the claws are moving in and out smoothly, well done there, Little Rose."

"Thanks!" she beamed, "I was planning to make it a little bulkier but I figured you'd appreciate something a lot less obvious."

"Yeah?" she smiled at the consideration, "What made you think I'd prefer it this way?"

"I remembered our talk from before." she said, waving her finger in the air as she recounted the moment in her head, "You know! The one when you said something about how trump cards only work when your enemies don't know about them."

"That?"

"Yeah! That!"

"Really?"

"Really!"

Tiella raised her brows at the small girl, smiling back at her gratefully, "I'm impressed, Little Rose. We didn't even talk about it during the brainstorming—that was just from one of our casual conversations, right? I guess I underestimated you again, I'm genuinely impressed."

"D'aw, stop it." Ruby shyly waved her arms in front of her as she giggled.

"Are you planning to add some cosmetics to this thing?"

"Do you have anything in mind?"

"Nope." popping the 'p', "It's nice just the way it is."

"Do you mind if I add some to it?"

"You wanna add something?"

"If you'd let me."

Tiella considered the offer for a few seconds, putting a hand on her chin. Forgetting to retract the claws back, " _Ow, motherfu-!_ " she pricked herself on the face with her thumb and index finger.

"Oh, no!" Ruby walked up to Tiella to inspect worriedly, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Nothing," she dismissed with a wave, retracting the claws, "I just pricked myself in the face," she said, massaging her chin and cheek to ease the pain and let her Aura do most of the work.

"But why?" she asked with a cute tilt of her head.

"To add more holes on my face and make breathing easier?" she retorted, looking back at Ruby incredulously, "What did you think, Little Rose? It was an accident!"

"O-Oh."

"Don't worry about it," she waved, "it just surprised me, is all."

"O-Okay, sorry."

Tiella gave the somewhat apologetic Ruby a half smile and messed her hair a bit. "It's fine, don't pout."

"Okay." she smiled, fixing her hair again.

"So, what did you want to add?"

"I wanted to add your insignia."

She turned her head towards Ruby with a raised brow, "My insignia?"

"Yeah," she smiled, "right there on the back."

"I didn't even know I had one." she laughed.

"Really?" brows raised in surprise, "I thought all those cosmic accessories alluded to your insignia?"

She smiled wryly, thinking that Ruby's way of thinking wasn't entirely incorrect, "Nah, they just allude to my name. And I wouldn't have done that in the first place if Coco hadn't made me wear 'em." she shrugged, "I just grew to like 'em."

"Oh..." she thought for a short moment, "...what was your name again?"

Tiella looked at Ruby incredulously for a second before she started laughing, "Oh man," she wiped a tear forming in the corner of her eye, "that was good."

"W-What?" she asked confusedly.

"Nothing, nothing." she waved, "I just remembered that I never really formally introduced myself to any of you." casually smiling back at Ruby, she continued, "But then again, didn't you read my name a few times already during spars?"

"Uh, well..." she scratched the back of her head, "...I may have forgotten?"

Tiella lightly sighed, putting a hand on her waist before patting Ruby on the head, "That's fine, I don't really introduce myself using my full name anyway. It's Celestiella V. Margory, by the way."

"Really? Why don't you like using your full name? It's so beautiful!"

"I know it is, my mother chose it for me." She messed up Ruby's fringes again, "I don't like using it because a beautiful name like that doesn't fit a large brute like me."

Ruby grabbed onto Tiella's arm and hung onto it as Tiella raised her arm up, "I think it suits you!"

She gave her a blank look as a response, completely unconvinced of what she'd just heard, "Izzat so?" she said, looking away with a wry smile.

"Yeah!" Ruby beamed, "It's taken from the stars, right? And stars are big and bright, just like you!"

"I know I'm big, Little Rose, but I don't see how I'm exactly 'bright'."

"Uh..." she thought for a moment, "like... it's a little hard to explain..."

She gave Ruby a half smile, "If you're planning to lie to my face then you gotta learn to do it better and faster."

"No!" she immediately retorted, "I'm not planning to lie! I really do think your name fits... and, well... I just don't really know the right words to describe why you're also 'bright'—I just think you are."

Tiella put her back down, giving Ruby another head pat, "Well, whatever."

 _"'Celeste...'"_ she thought, a memory from long ago resurfacing.

A nostalgic smile adorned her face, "Thanks, Little Rose." she leaned in a little closer to Ruby, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she whispered in her ear, "I'll let you in on a little secret."

Excited, Ruby beamed and came closer without another word.

"You know how I call you Little Rose like your mother did because you let me call you that?"

"Yeah," she said with a small nostalgic smile.

"Well, I think it's only fitting that you know how my mother used to call me."

"You mean the nickname your mother gave you?" she whispered back in excitement.

"Yup," she said, taking one knee as she wrapped one arm around Ruby. Looking up, she smiled at her, "My mother used to call me Celeste—because back then, I was her Little Star."

"Celeste?"

"Yup," popping the 'p', "and from now on, you're free to call me that, too." she smiled.

"Really?" she beamed.

"Of course," a genuine smile, "it's a privilege to call me that, you know?"

"Because no one else calls you that?" she guessed with a cute tilt of her head.

"That's right."

Ruby smiled at the thought, "I like 'Celeste'."

"Same here, Little Rose," she said before standing back up. "Anyway, we got a little lost back there."

"Uh, right."

"No, I don't have an insignia," she started, "yes, I do like astronomy-themed accessories—you can do whatever you want with that knowledge, I don't care."

Ruby thought over Tiella's words for a moment before she nodded her head resolutely, "Okay! I'll make you something that will definitely represent you!"

"Thanks, Little Rose." she grinned, turning her back to Ruby, "It'll all be for _shit_ if the claws break easy, though. So, let's hope it doesn't."

At those words was Ruby's determined smile replaced by a nervous gulp as she stared at Tiella who was already walking towards one of the practice walls within Beacon's weapons testing grounds.

 _"Should I give her something for doing extra?"_

She stretched her hand open and close a few times again, trying to get used to the feeling of it. She raised her hand to get a better look at it again, before idly rolling her wrists in thought.

 _"Oh ya, I haven't checked my balance... I should still have around a little under 10K, I think? 5K spent on clothes and food in less than a week, huh? Am I living the dream? Probably not but Karen would kick my teeth in if she found out I've been spending needlessly."_

She flicked her wrist outwards, releasing the claws. She idly tapped the claws on the wall while trying to remember notes from the Aura manual she borrowed a few days ago.

 _"So... 'just think of the weapon as a part of your body while extending my Aura onto it' or that's what I got from it at least. Sounds retarded as hell but okay, I'm in another world—I don't really get to decide which is true or not until I've at least spent a couple years here."_

She closed her eyes in concentration, getting a feel for the power of the Soul encompassing her body. She imagined the glove as an integral part of her hand, though it was with a good deal of difficulty. After a few minutes of trying to coat her glove with Aura and failing, she heard Ruby walk up behind her.

"Hey, Ti-Celeste, what's wrong?"

She turned to meet her with a little pout and a hand on her waist, "I'm still not used to Aura so I can't rightly coat this glove with it."

"Really?" she tilted her head and thought for a bit, "You just have to think of the glove as an important part of you!"

"Uh huh..." looking at Ruby as if she was joking.

"Yeah!" she said, not really understanding why Tiella was looking at her that way, though she was having her suspicions, "Haven't you done the same with your guns and knives?"

"Nope."

" _WHAT!?_ " she yelled, incredulous of what she'd just heard, "What do you _mean_ you've never coated your weapons with Aura!?" she leaned up to Tiella, almost like how Weiss did with her before, but instead of pointing at her face, she was waving her arms animatedly.

Backing off from a suddenly irate Ruby, Tiella looked around while thinking whether she'd just stepped on a landmine unwittingly, "Uh..."

Ruby backed off while in deep thought, unaware of Tiella's bewilderment, eyes racing everywhere and nowhere as she muttered to herself, "For one thing, it would mean that you've been fighting with pure skill all these years and you've reached a level of expertise that would take talent and decades of practice and experience that only veteran huntsmen and huntresses have achieved through years of service but on the other, it would also mean that you've never thought of your weapons as your own..."

Ruby looked back at Tiella in a sort of confused astonishment, "You've been holding back so much during spars that it's resulted in some of your losses but it was never because you underestimate your opponent. It was always about getting better for you and you alone."

She paced back and forth as she continued to mutter to herself, eyes racing everywhere once more, "You don't care what weapon you hold, you care whether it can do the job or not for whatever it is you want or need." she stopped and looked back at Tiella, eyes slowly widening at the realization, "You've never thought of your weapons as a part of you."

She took slow steps towards Tiella again as she slowly processed the new information in her mind, "And because of that, your Aura has never extended beyond your own body."

She stopped in front of Tiella, looking up at her, "What are the names of your weapons?"

Tiella, dumbstruck after everything she'd heard so far, became even more dumbstruck after the question. She was about to laugh it off but she managed to stop herself when she saw the serious look over Ruby's eyes. "If you're talking about official names, my guns are called the Desert Eagle .50AE and FN Five-Seven-"

"No!" she interrupted, "I mean, what have you named your weapons?"

"You're being real passionate about weapons all of a sudden, Ruby."

"Just answer the question!" she pouted angrily.

Surprised by the bubbly girl's... _passion_ oozing out, she withheld all future sarcastic remarks until further notice, "No names."

Ruby once again backed off after hearing what she feared, holding her cheeks in shock, "I... I can't believe it."

"W-What?"

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why don't you name your weapons?"

Tiella reacted as if the question itself shouldn't even be asked, as if the question was stupid—as if her _beliefs_ were stupid. "They're _tools_ , Little Rose. Tools to get the job done like you correctly guessed."

"B-But haven't they been with you through thick and thin..? Haven't they saved you before?"

She sighed and looked away, contemplating how to answer Ruby in a way that would make her easily understand. She remained silent for a few minutes while Ruby patiently waited for an answer.

 _"What's with Little Rose? They're just guns. Nothing special about them other than being highly effective extra assholes maker. They're literally tools for murder. For a good girl with bright hopes for the world, she sure is passionate about killing tools."_

She looked back at Ruby with blank eyes, taking in the passionate look in her eyes.

 _"In the first place, isn't it pretty grim that a 15-year-old girl like her is so enthusiastic about these killing tools? Shouldn't she just focus on saving people from Grimm or some other huntress crap? Who taught her that it's okay to just fawn over weapons anywa-"_

Her eyes slightly widened in realization, the error in her thinking making itself apparent to her.

 _"I'm so stupid!"_ she looked away from Ruby's gaze in frustration, hiding her anger at herself as she bit her lips, _"I'm from another world! I didn't have Grimm where I'm from! The only things to kill there are each other! Not mindless destruction-incarnates like Grimm! Of course, she wouldn't think of weapons as murder tools—they're symbols of peace and protection in this world!"_

She clicked her tongue in frustration, unknowingly making Ruby flinch in fear of angering the tall girl. _"God damn it. How do I correct myself here? Goddamn cross-dimensional culture shocks. Should I tell her I've killed people before? Is it gonna be good for her? I don't really feel like destroying an innocent child's perception of the world just because I felt the need to make her understand my point of view."_

She tilted her head sideways as she pursed her lips and squinted her downcast eyes, clicking her tongue again in frustration. _"But she's a perceptive girl, deceptively so. She correctly guessed that much just from the fact that I've never put Aura over my weapons, all things considered. She can take it. And now that I think about it, her uncle's not exactly prim and proper like what I'd expect of so-called Symbols of Peace—taking on spy work and all that jazz. Shouldn't be too hard to imagine him killing people along the way, self-defense or not."_

She sighed, shaking her head low before lifting it up and taking a deep breath. "Hokay... Little Rose."

 _"It's not even gonna be a 'dose of reality' kinda thing. I'm just gonna be shitting on her beliefs because I have different views."_

"I-I'm so-"

She cut Ruby's apology short with a finger in front of Ruby's face, wryly smiling back at the little girl who she was slowly beginning to see as her own little sister.

"If you want names for my babies, then let's call my Desert Eagles 'Badabing' and my Five-Sevens 'Badaboom'," she said with all the seriousness she could muster on her face—trying very hard not to turn it into a grin.

"Uh..." Ruby tried processing the new information in her head as she looked back at the girl who was looking at her with such a serious tension on her face.

"Jokes aside," she grinned, unable to keep up the act any longer.

"It was a joke!?"

"No, not really. They're called Badabing and Badaboom from now on," she said while giving Ruby a wink, a cheeky grin, and finger guns.

Unsure of how to properly react, Ruby remained silent as she tried forming words in her head to speak with.

"Anyway," she waved with a hand, "it's okay, Little Rose. You did nothing wrong." she smiled, "That enthusiasm with weapons, your passion with your arts and craft—it's good, and it shouldn't be anything to apologize for."

 _"Yeah, on second thought. I'm not gonna tell her. It's not worth it—it just isn't. I'll just be feeding my own ego if I told her the weapons she looked up to as symbols of peace are murder weapons where I'm from. There's a time and a place for these things—now isn't one of them."_

Ruby shyly looked away, blinking a few times as her eyes wandered and an embarrassed smile appeared on her face, "I... uh..."

Tiella's smile grew wider as she took a knee in front of her, _"Besides, I'm this girl's teacher right now. I shouldn't do anything to strain that relationship."_

"It's just that my mentor, the one I told you that smacked my ass for every time I missed my bullseyes? Remember that guy?"

"Yeah?" she said, remembering their talk and the hellish training that followed. She can still feel her arms and legs shake a little whenever she strained them a little too much.

"That guy lived by a lot of things," she stood up, putting both hands on her waist as she looked down on Ruby with a half-nostalgic, half-wry smile, "and when it came to weapons, the one thing that he kept telling me was that _'Guns are tools, your best weapon is your body, so do your best to take care of it'_."

Ruby listened quietly, her understanding of her new teacher broadening just a little bit more.

" _'A gun can be replaced, so can a knife, and even the armor you wear to protect yourself with...'_ " she continued, pacing a little in front of Ruby, waving her finger as she recounted her mentor's words, " _'...but if you lose an arm or a leg, you'll have to start over again. Sure, you can get a prosthetic, but the muscle memory, reflexes, and coordination you built up over the years—the blood, sweat, and tears along with the scars you gained—proof of your tenacity to get back up and fight back, will be lost forever with nothing but the memories left behind.'_ "

"Wow... in those exact words?" she asked in awe.

"In those exact words." she nodded sagely, "But if you want more accuracy, I can say it again but with a grumpy old man's thick accent." she grinned. " _'Guns're tools, yer best weap'n's yer bahde, so do yer best to take care o' it.'_ " she slurred with a hand over her flexed bicep, eliciting a laugh from Ruby.

"He repeated those words to me so many times over the years that I can't forget about 'em even if I tried." laughing at the memory, "And whenever I tried to interrupt, he'd chop my head to shut me up until he finished."

"'the blood, sweat, and tears along with the scars you gained...'" she repeated, letting her eyes wander over the exposed scars on Tiella's face and body.

The cuts on her forearms, the bare hints of a long scar that ran diagonally across her forehead and left brow that was hidden behind fringes that partially covered her eyes.

Seeing the small girl openly looking at her scars, her nostalgic smile turned into a cheeky grin. She leaned over the girl to meet her eye to eye, causing her to flinch away after realizing her mistake. "Didn't you know that it's rude to stare at a person's scars?"

As if caught with her hand in the cookie jar, Ruby scrambled out her apology in stuttered haste, "I-I'm so so-"

"Hahahahaha!"

"-rry...?" only to be left confused by Tiella's sudden fit of laughter.

Tiella shook her head sideways in mirth, amused at how cute and innocent Ruby was—and glad that she decided not to destroy it that day.

"I was just kidding, Little Rose," she said with a wave of her hand.

"Tiella!" she pouted, crossing her arms as she looked away with her cheeks dyed red in embarrassment.

"I thought you were gonna call me Celeste now?" she teased, "Does that mean I should call you Little Red again?"

Ruby pouted harder, cheeks puffed out with her eyebrows scrunched closer together as she looked back at Tiella angrily.

Deciding that she'd had her fill with teasing the girl for the next 5 minutes, she ruffled Ruby's hair and said, "I'm not mad, Little Rose."

Ruby fixed her hair and looked back at the girl with doubt and worry, "Really?"

"It's gonna take way more than staring at my scars to make me mad, you know?" she smiled. "Since I can't really test this baby out," she said, raising her glove with an apologetic smile, "I could always just answer your questions about my scars if you're so curious as an apology for wasting your time."

"E-Eh?"

"I mean, it's not really a proper apology for asking you to build me something only for me to flop on it 'cause I suck with Aura, but, y'know, I figured you've been curious about my scars, why not answer questions now, or something? Though, I don't really understand why you girls are so curious about 'em. They're just scars."

"What? We just leave to get drinks and then I see you bonding with my little sister like that without me?" a voice interrupted from behind them.

"Yang!"

"Makes me think you're trying to take my spot, Star." she teased.

"Sup, matchstick, Blake, Weissicle."

"Hello." she waved.

"I told you never to call me that!" she yelled.

"How come Blake doesn't have a nickname?" she wondered.

"Just let me spend some quality time with her and I'll come up with something," she said with a salacious grin and a wiggle of her brows.

"I at least hope it's better than Bellabroody."

"You've never spent quality time with me, though?" Yang chimed, throwing Tiella a bottled iced tea.

"As much as I hate to admit it," she said, earning a confused look from Yang, "we probably operate on the same wavelength."

"Hey!"

"So, I think we're good on that front."

Yang pouted but still agreed, "Yeah, I guess." she looked up and raised one finger per point made, "We both like bashing heads in, we're both good at CQC, we've both got rockin' bods, we're both tall,"

"And you both have a knack for tasteless jokes—Yang on stupid puns while you on sex jokes," Blake added.

"Eh, you love me." Yang dismissed with a wave and a cheeky grin.

"You also both have a penchant for dumb nicknames." Weiss chimed with a scowl.

""Whatever you say, Ice Queen/Weissicle.""

Crossing her arms, she addressed Blake with a blank expression, eyes never moving away from Yang and Tiella, "I walked into that one, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did."

"Wait!" Ruby cut in, "She was about to tell me about her scars!"

"I thought you were testing out the glove?" Blake asked.

"I suck at using Aura so I can't coat it with it." she shrugged.

"Having trouble thinking of it as a part of you?"

"Yeah," she asked with a curious brow. "how'd you know?"

"I've seen some people deal with the same problem before." Blake shrugged, remembering her days training White Fang recruits, "Spend a day or two wearing it before trying again—go for a week at most, you'll eventually get it."

"But what if I wanted to flick the bean?" she asked with a cheeky grin.

"You have your right hand, don't you?" immediately retorting.

"I'm a lefty."

"So is Weiss but she makes do on some days."

"Wha-"

"What does flick the be-"

"Whoah-kay!" Yang quickly cutting Ruby with a hand on her mouth, "Why don't you tell us how you got that scar on your forehead?" she said, grinning dangerously at Blake and Tiella. Weiss, meanwhile, was grinding her teeth in anger and embarrassment as her face went beet red.

"THAT'S NOT EVEN REMOTELY TRUE AND WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU TWO ARE INSINUATING I DO IS FALSE AND WHATEVER I DO IN MY PRIVATE TIME IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

Tiella was stopping her fit of laughter with a forearm over her mouth while Blake looked away as she, too, visibly shook from trying to stop herself from laughing too much. Deciding that she'd had enough of teasing Weiss for the next few minutes, she spoke to Blake.

"Anyway, thanks for the advice," she said, raising her gloved hand with a wave.

Blake turned to Tiella with a hand demurely covering her mouth still, "No problem." she said with a small nod.

Tiella drank from her iced tea and let out a refreshed breath, the cold beverage cooling her down from within. The others did the same, from taking small sips of their drinks to downright glugging half of it in one gulp.

"So, Little Rose..." she called, sitting down on the floor Indian-style and tapping the place in front of her to beckon Ruby to sit in front of her, "...which one do you wanna know first?" she asked while casually unbuttoning her shirt off.

They were all a little surprised at first, each having slightly different reactions from the other.

Ruby was plainly surprised by the action but then immediately realized Tiella's intentions, making her wear a somewhat nervous expression on her face.

Weiss went wide-eyed with a faint blush on her cheeks and kept looking away from Tiella, back to Tiella, to her teammates, and so on.

Blake raised a subtle curious brow at first but she remembered how Ruby wanted to learn about her scars. So externally, she put up a blank expression with the faintest of faint blushes as she internally wondered what it would be like to cuddle with all that muscle—preferably her as the little spoon.

Yang, meanwhile, whistled in delight as she took in everything from Tiella slowly revealing her abs as she unbuttoned her top to her shoulders and biceps as she casually slid her shirt off and aside—revealing a plethora of scars that adorned her body.

As soon as Tiella was done taking her top off, leaving herself in only her sports bra, she placed her hands on her thighs with a huff—puffing her chest out as well as giving the four girls her signature cheeky grin.

"Like what you see?"

As Tiella proudly presented her scar-littered body, the four girls were left unable to speak or react—unsure of what to feel or how to take the situation in. They've always seen her scars before mostly during spars and training but they always made sure to ignore them whenever they did.

And now that her scars were presented to them, basically telling them that they were allowed to look, they stood simply staring with a slight discomfort building up within each of them.

Each one wondered, what story did each scar hold and how she got them in the first place? Luckily for them, Tiella was more than happy to answer their unspoken questions.

"Basically," she said, snapping their attention away from their wondering, "most of these..." gesturing with her hands at the scars on her stomach and arms, "scars are from one battle alone."

The statement made them all wonder what sort of battle it had to be for her to come out with so many scars afterward?

"Even this one here." brushing her fringes up, revealing the long gash on her forehead that ran diagonally across her left brow. And now that they were all closely examining her face, they all noticed the faintest change of coloration on her right cheek. Another scar, they guessed, though that one healed up nicely.

Weiss, as she intently eyed Tiella's scar, absentmindedly caressed her own.

"Do they still hurt?" Ruby asked worriedly, a sorrowful expression on her face as she let her eyes wander from scar to scar.

Amused at the uncharacteristic lack of energy from the four girls, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself before she answered, earning funny looks from her audience. "Sometimes," she shrugged, "when I dream about how I got them, I wake up feeling the pain all over again—though it's never as bad as the day I got them."

"Are you sure it's okay for you to talk about them?" Ruby continued, a pained look upon her face.

"Oh yeah," she laughed again, "totally," rolling her eyes in amusement, "you should see the looks on your faces."

Surprised by Tiella's lackadaisical attitude towards what they believed to be a sensitive subject for her, they were once again left unable to properly react.

Yang was the first to speak, scratching the back of her head with a wry smile, "And we were all tip-toeing around the topic, too, you know?" she laughed, "Guess all that effort trying to stop myself from asking was for nothing."

The statement got Tiella laughing again as well. She noticed the other three girls were still a little uncomfortable which got her to raise an amused brow and a wry smile back at them.

"Are you really sure it's fine? We're not forcing you, are we?" Weiss asked, holding her arm demurely.

"Totes." replying immediately, "I'll even tell you how that fight went down if you want."

Blake convinced that it was indeed a topic Tiella was more than willing to talk about, sat beside Ruby to indicate to Tiella that she was ready to listen.

Tiella noted the discomfort in Weiss' body language, the way she kept her arms close to her, how her body was angled slightly away from her, the tight expression on her face—seeing it all, it made her scratch her cheek in bemusement.

"Well, not that I'm forcing you to listen." she said, giving Weiss a knowing smile, "You can sit this one out if you want."

Caught in the spot as she was surprised that Tiella once again saw through her easily, she put a hand on her chest and took a few deep, calming breaths before joining Ruby by her side.

Yang decided to carry Ruby and put her on her lap as she sat down Indian-style before taking both Weiss and Blake by their waists to pull them closer to her—as if they were all stuffed animals to hug as she prepared herself to listen to Tiella's story with quite an excited look on her face.

Both Weiss and Blake tried to break free from, but alas, they could not—for the little sun dragon's arms were mighty and her hold on their slim waists steadfast.

"You're unbelievable, Yang," Weiss said with an incredulous shake of her head.

"Yang, please." Blake pleaded, "It's hot today."

"Come on!" she exclaimed with a smile, ignoring Weiss and Blake's protests as she put her chin upon Ruby's head, "How'd it go?"

"You're real something, aren't you, Yang?" Tiella smiled cheekily.

"You love me," she grinned, "you _all_ do."

"Yeah," Tiella said with a roll of her eyes along with Blake and Weiss, "let's just leave it at that." she crossed her arms and put a hand on her chin as she looked up in thought, "Let's see... where do I start?"

"How about those?" Yang said, pointing towards Tiella's stomach with her lips, "are those bullet holes?"

Tiella looked to her stomach and caressed the scars with her thumb, "These?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, these were bullet holes," she stated matter-of-factly with a nod.

"How'd you get them? Did the bullets rip through your Aura?"

"Ripped through my Aura?" she scoffed with a laugh, "I didn't have my Aura up at the time."

"You were actually fighting without your Aura?" Weiss asked in disbelief.

"It's happened a few times, yeah."

"I mean, we all figured those were from intense fights but I don't think any of us imagined you got them because you didn't have your Aura up." she continued in her disbelief, "What made you fight without Aura?"

"It's simple, Weiss." she smiled, "Every scar you see here?" she gestured, "I got them all when my Aura was down." she said, earning tense expressions from the four girls, "And the reason I still fought back was simply because I would've died if I didn't."

"So, let me get this straight—"

"No, I'm bi." she grinned, earning a blank look from Blake and a few chuckles from Yang.

Blake, nonetheless, continued, "Was your Aura depleted during the fight?" she asked with a tense expression over her face, "Or did you go into the fight without your Aura in the first place?"

"Blake, that's suicide." Weiss retorted.

"She's right, though," Tiella said, earning an even more disbelieving look from Weiss, as well as from Yang and Ruby. "I did go into those fights without my Aura."

"To live?" Ruby asked.

"To live." she nodded.

Ruby wore a grim look over her face as Tiella answered her question.

"Damn." Yang commented, "I knew being a huntress was dangerous but I didn't think there'd be situations I'd be forced to go into fights without Aura."

 _"Ah crap, I'm putting shit in their heads. Fuck it, nothing I can do about it."_

"It's nothing so common, though." she added, "I did tell you that most of these came from a single battle."

"What were you fighting?" Yang asked, keenly remembering what she'd overheard days ago. About a battle of attrition against some indestructible monster.

Tiella sighed leaning back, remembering the event with a scratch on the back of her head. "It's hard to say." she crossed her arms with pursed lips, "It looked like a man but his strength was _way_ off the charts."

"A man-like Grimm?" Weiss wondered.

"Probably." she nodded, "He was shaped like a man but he definitely didn't act like one."

"What did you mean by his strength being way off the charts?" Yang asked.

Tiella bit her lower lip after a lick, eyes wandering while downcast, searching memories she sorely wished she could have forgotten already. "Imagine a man-shaped Grimm with indestructible skin and claws that tore and ripped the earth apart for every swing that never even made direct contact. If it was just a tiny bit faster, I would have been torn to shreds and we wouldn't be having this conversation at all."

She looked up with blank eyes that stared beyond theirs—as if she was looking at something else and not really at them. "I would have long since died if I'd made the tiniest mistake." her voice low and cold, sending chills down the four girls' spines.

"If I'd slipped on a rock? Dead. If I hesitated for a split second? Dead. Jump just a fraction too late? Dead. Stayed in place for half a second? Dead. Footing was off for a little? Fucking. Dead."

She looked at each girl directly in their eyes, and they did the same with her. The four girls searched for any hints of lies or just the barest signs of exaggeration from her. In the few days since they've met the girl, she'd always come off as easygoing at best and reckless at worst. So it came as a surprise as they've never seen Tiella with such a worn expression.

"I probably had more near-death experiences in that fight compared to all my other missions combined." she voiced with a slightly trembling voice, a hint of weariness and anxiousness present.

It was such that they were strongly reminded of old soldiers and huntsmen that returned from the great war not long ago.

"I-Is it a new type of Grimm?" Ruby anxiously asked.

There was a pause between them for a moment, Tiella's expression hardening as beads of sweat started forming on her neck and forehead—rolling down her skin as they glistened.

Was she scared? They all thought. They've never seen how the girl looked like when frightened, so they can never tell for sure. But it definitely looked like Tiella was disturbed.

Her eyes were squinted fiercely as she looked away, likely remembering the events of that eventful day.

* * *

— _months before arriving at Beacon..._

"Did that actually knock him out?" Tiella muttered, speaking more to herself as she did not feel particularly hopeful even after she knew she got a direct hit.

The three of them have been running for hours on end, taking every corner they could to lose whatever it was that had been chasing them—but they just can't shake him off no matter how hard they tried.

Dropping an entire ceiling over him barely worked as it only made him pause for a few seconds—as if the ceilings from the castle keep ruins were nothing more than pillows thrown at him.

Due to being forced into a corner just minutes ago, the trio—Tiella, Lillianne, and Bardel—simply fought back instead.

Bardel was the first to charge in. He gave himself a boost using his Skill that can raise his own physical capabilities based on the strength of his desire to attain victory. A very simple but nearly peerless ability, although at times the boost to his strength may vary. He can go from barely lifting a fridge to throwing a bus using one hand with ease.

After the boost—which took less than a second to activate—he sprinted towards their enemy, leaving cracks where his feet landed. He swung his fist for a strong right hook, however, his opponent saw through the move mid-swing and readied his own left elbow to block the fist as he swung his right hand from below in an attempt to grab Bardel.

Their pursuer successfully grabbed Bardel's face after destroying his right fist… was what he thought would have happened but instead, he felt no punch hit him and that his attempt at a grab missed. The two girls caught up immediately to save Bardel just in the nick of time.

Tiella elbowed Bardel in the nose to push him back and make him fall faster while, at the same time, Lillianne tripped him with a spinning leg sweep from behind to assist. An extremely irrational fear gripped Tiella when she came close and saw their enemy's face and it almost made her hesitate, but she stood her ground and shot her pistol centimeters from the enemy's eye—causing a loud, near-deafening explosion with it.

Their pursuer attempted to move his face away before the trigger was pulled but felt a strong blunt force hitting his left thigh in an attempt to make him go weak or simply interrupt his movement.

While Tiella was aiming her pistol, Lillianne used the momentum of her rotation from her leg sweep, while down on one knee, to swing her round shield downward to interrupt their enemy's attempt at evasion, burying his leg deep into the ground—causing a small crater to form all around them.

Tiella grabbed Bardel, who was still in the middle of falling to the ground by the collar of his shirt and at the same time, Lillianne kept spinning even after hitting their enemy to turn around once more and catch Bardel's legs in mid-air. As soon as both of them had secured Bardel, they both retreated a safe distance away, leaving the enemy on the ground covered in dust and smoke.

Back to the present time, Tiella and Lillianne were still carrying Bardel.

" _Jesus fucking Christ, you psycho bitch, your fucking knife is in my fucking face!_ " Bardel yelled in pure indignation due to Tiella's knife being only centimeters away from his face and had actually poked him a few times already. " _You could've killed me!_ "

Tiella simply ignored him however and let go of his shirt, a soft thud was heard on the ground causing more curses from Bardel. "No, of course not. Let me empty my mag to be sure."

"Wait! Tielle, what if he actually dies!?" Lillianne interjected worriedly while helping Bardel up but was promptly ignored. She didn't really believe the monster of a man before them would actually die—they did throw at least three grenades at him that collapsed a ceiling to bury him after all—but she was still worried for the possibility that Tiella would actually kill someone no matter how slim the chance.

Tiella sheathed her knife and held her gun with both hands for better aim. " _Children_ ," she said, tone as commanding as she could get, "cover your ears," Tiella said—which Lillianne and Bardel felt wise to obliged to—and started pumping the enemy's head with six more bullets.

Tiella wasn't necessarily older than her two teammates. They're only just a few months apart from each other with their age. She simply felt that Lillianne didn't feel the gravity of the situation as much as she did. She saw Lillianne's slightly more optimistic view of the world as one of her stronger traits, however in moments like these, she saw it as mere naivety.

She strongly believed that this _monster_ needed to disappear—sooner rather than later.

After confirming that her magazine had been emptied, she took another one to reload, never taking her sight off of their pursuer. She aimed her gun again and readied to fire a few more rounds. Continuing her commanding tone from before, she ordered once more, "Let's go. Our goal is to run and now's our cha-"

Tiella heard a loud clang of metal from a shield that suddenly appeared in front of her. She noticed that Lillianne had already stood in front of her, and not even a second later, the force of the impact was so strong for the shield and the bearer that they'd been pushed back inches from where they stood—carrying Tiella and Bardel along the way.

"What was that!?" Tiella shouted in dismay. The trio heard another clang.

And another.

And another.

And another.

For every clang that resounded in the air, they were pushed back harder and further, even when Bardel and Tiella stood their ground firmly to support Lillianne. Lillianne even went as far as holding her shield with both hands. However her legs felt like jelly and her arms especially sore after the first impact, and yet she endured an additional five, each equally as strong as the last had been but somehow felt much worse to her after every hit.

When Lillianne thought it was over—right at the moment when she momentarily loosened her grip—she felt another impact which was _incomparably_ stronger than the previous blows. Her shield flew off, landing meters away with a visible hole, and her upper left chest had been pierced through.

She screamed in pain, holding her chest in agony. Amidst the pain, she noticed that Tiella had been knocked unconscious in the arms of Bardel—blood dripping from her mouth.

A bullet had embedded itself on her left flank, almost tearing through her bulletproof vest. Bardel had been the only one spared from being hurt completely by the shot, only suffering another fall on his bum from the impact that carried all the way to Tiella.

* * *

"Ti-Celeste?"

"Huh?" snapping back to reality, she found RWBY looking back at her with worry.

"Maybe... we shouldn't talk about it after all," Ruby said, her voice filled with anxiety.

She saw Ruby holding her hands in those tiny palms of hers—her hands that were sweating and shaking. She gently turned her palms upward to look at them—the blank look on her face instantly morphing into immense fear as she sucked in a deep breath.

Tiella held her hands close to her, tightly embracing herself as her body shook uncontrollably.

"Huh..?" she laughed, a self-deprecating smile on her face, "...I-I guess... I guess I'm not over it-" she swallowed thickly, taking in deep breaths as she exhaled shakily, "not over it like I thought."

She laughed miserably again, the sound almost painful to team RWBY's ears.

Tiella's wide eyes were downcast as she bit her lips to stop her teeth from grinding together, memories of the day she and her team almost dying at the hands of a monster that struck immense fear in their hearts simply by staying in his presence. An irrational fear that made her both want to run from it...

...and at the same time, stay and worship it.

While deep in her memories, she felt a warmth envelop her. She looked up, noticing Ruby hugging her closely and gently, whispering words in such a soft and gentle voice.

"I'm sorry, Tiella." she heard Ruby whisper in her ear, "I'm sorry for forcing you to talk about them." rubbing circles on her back, Ruby continued, "I-I should have known that it was a very sensitive topic to talk about."

"Yeah... we're sorry, Star." she heard Yang say from behind her, as she, too, embraced her, "But it's okay now."

 _"When I overheard her talk about fighting some indestructible monster, I found it hard to believe but after seeing her in action, I figured she was a monster herself. I got so stupidly excited, thinking that I had the chance to experience what it would be like to face what might possibly be one of the most dangerous women on the planet._

 _I feel so stupid. God, I'm so ashamed of myself._

 _She's human—just like me."_

"You don't have to talk about it," Blake said, placing a reassuring hand on Tiella's shoulder.

Weiss didn't say anything for a while but instead chose to gently hold Tiella's shaking hand in her own.

"Why did you force yourself?" Weiss spoke, earning a questioning look from the still shaking Tiella. "Why did you force yourself to talk about it? Surely, you should have known that it wasn't easy to do," she said, eyes downcast as she idly circled her thumb on Tiella's hand.

The question irked Yang as it came off as Weiss blaming Tiella for some reason, so her eyes glowed red in anger and she was ready to confront Weiss until she saw the solemn look on her teammate's face—as well as the scar that adorned her eye. Seeing the look, Yang reluctantly backed off, realizing that Weiss was at least coming from somewhere with her question.

Tiella laughed miserably once more, "You're right." earning a confused look from Weiss as if asking her ' _then, why?_ ' with her eyes, "I really should've have known better."

Tiella gently wrapped her arms around Ruby and pulled her a little closer, "But, you see... I thought it might be good for me to talk about it."

Sending Tiella another unspoken question, Weiss listened intently, "That maybe—just maybe—I might've gotten over it, even for a little bit." she smiled sadly, "Guess not."

Her words made Weiss unconsciously reach for her left eye, though she managed to stop herself halfway. Tiella saw the action and continued with a knowing look, "But that's not to say I'm ashamed of the experience."

Earning looks from the girls around her, Tiella continued—the shaking in her hands having calmed already, "I _lived_ , Weiss. Bad things happened to me but I _lived_. I'm still alive and, if anything, surviving that fight just made me stronger." she smiled, remembering the words of her mentor.

She idly rubbed the back of Ruby's head, twirling Ruby's hair in her fingers before uncoiling and straightening them out only to repeat the process, "My mentor—Gramps, I'd call him—kept telling me that scars aren't anything to be ashamed of because they're proof of your strength for surviving the bad things life threw at you. 'Trophies for staying alive', he'd say."

" _'Trophies for staying alive...'_ " Weiss repeated under her breath as if the words were a mantra she needed to hear.

"Thanks a lot, girls." she said, "I really appreciate what you're doing for me right now." enjoying the comfortable warmth of Ruby and Yang despite the hot day.

"Don't worry about it," Yang said.

"It's okay," Blake added.

"But you know, Yang..." Tiella said, burying her face on Ruby's shoulder who'd been content with simply providing Tiella with a hug for as long as she felt Tiella needed or wanted.

Yang tilted her head with a questioning look at Tiella but couldn't see her face, "What's up?"

Tiella hugged Ruby tighter and was burying her face even more, "...Little Rose..."

Yang faced her ear closer to Tiella.

"...is s _o. Damn. Huggable_."

"What?" Ruby asked, idle hands that have been circling Tiella's back suddenly stopping.

"What?" Yang asked with a half smile and a raised eyebrow.

Blake's eyebrows simply rose up with a blank expression on her face, wondering her the conversation's tone went from somber to fluffy within the space of 10 seconds.

Weiss was wearing a similar expression to Blake as she, too, wondered the same thing.

"Yang," Tiella said, voice muffled.

"No."

"I haven't even said anything."

"You want to borrow Ruby as a pillow—I know—and my answer is no."

"What!?" Ruby exclaimed, trying, in vain, to tear herself off from Tiella.

"What do you need?"

"You can't make me sell Ruby off."

"Even for just a day? Or a night?"

"You're entering some real dangerous categories there, Star." Yang threatened lightly with a tight grin.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she continued unperturbed. "I just want a hug night. Get your mind out of the gutter, Yang."

"No." she dismissed, "Besides," she grinned, "Rubes is already taken by Weiss."

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"Uh..?" Ruby drawled.

Blake simply watched from the side contentedly.

"Really?" Tiella rose her head with a tilt, "I didn't know you two were an item." she said to Weiss with a teasing smile.

"W-We are not!" she denied with a flush of her cheeks.

"Hey!" Yang called out, "You saying my sister isn't good enough for you?"

"T-That's not what I-"

"Yaaaang!" Ruby whined, "You're teasing my partner again!" she pouted, "You, too, Tiella!" crossing her arms, she looked away, "I'm the only one allowed to tease and hug Weiss."

"E-Excuse me!?"

"Oh, damn." Tiella finally letting go, she gave Weiss a wry smile, "Sorry, Weiss. I didn't mean to take your girl."

"S-She's not my-" Weiss shook her head, "Wait! Why are you bullying me again!?"

"It's funny." Tiella shrugged.

"You're funny." Yang agreed.

"You're cute, Weiss." Ruby smiled.

"I can't believe you three..." pinching the bridge of her nose. She looked at Blake with an irked brow raised, "And you?"

"I agree with the general consensus." Blake smiled cheekily.

Weiss simply stood, threw her arms up in resignation, and walked away, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

"We're idiots you love, Weiss! You can't deny that!" Yang called out as she stood to follow from behind.

"Wait up! Where are you going?" Ruby yelled, jogging behind as well.

"I'm starving!"

"Hey, Little Rose!" Tiella stood as well to follow, buttoning her shirt back on, "I thought you were calling me Celeste from now on?"

Blake walked beside Tiella and asked, "Celeste?"

"An old nickname." Tiella smiled, "Ruby and I had a little heart to heart while you three were away."

"I see." Blake nodded, "It's a nice name."

"Thanks," she said, ruffling Blake's head of hair once again.

"W-Wait—" Blake panicked as she felt her ribbon slowly coming loose. She grabbed Tiella's hand to pull it away, "Stop i-"

"Whoops." Tiella said, looking at the undone ribbon in her hands with an apologetic smile, "Sorry about that." she said, looking back at an extremely anxious-looking Blake. "Blake? What's wrong?"

She observed the girl intently, noting the paler skin tone and the shaking wide eyes, as if a deer caught in the headlights, "Are you oka-"

Her sentence stopped as she finally noticed what was wrong. Or rather, what was _up_. She looked at Blake's extra set of ears and back to the ribbon in her hand then back to Blake as well.

"Oh," she said, pausing to take the situation in.

Blake panicked further, attempting to grab the ribbon out of Tiella's hands as quickly as she could. Though, Tiella was quick to move her hand away out of reflex.

"Whoah, there." she teased, "What's up, Blake? You're acting like the cat being out of the bag is a bad thing or something."

"P-Please give me back my ribbon!" distressed, she was preparing herself to attack the taller girl.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah!" Tiella said, hands gesturing for the girl to calm down, "I'll give it back, okay? But let's talk, okay? I won't do anything to you."

 _"She's like a cornered animal. Damn, I fucked up. Again. God damn it."_

She slowly handed over the ribbon to the still-anxious Blake, to which she quickly snatched it out of her hand—immediately tying it over her ears. As soon as she was done, Blake looked at Tiella angrily and warily, taking a few steps away from the girl.

"Now you know," she said, her tone low as her eyes glared at Tiella.

"I guess I do." Tiella smiled apologetically, scratching the back of her head. "Is it bad that I do?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you'll spread it around."

"I'm an easy girl to talk to, Blake." she smiled gently, "You know that."

Blake eyed the girl warily, while she doubted Tiella's words, she also rationally believed that Tiella was telling the truth.

"I promise I won't tell anyone." she said, raising her right hand up, "I won't even ask why you're hiding them—it's clearly not my business what you do in your private life."

Blake became confused at the words, _"Not asking? That's too good to be true, isn't it?"_

"If you wanna tell me, that's okay, I'm all ears." Tiella continued, "But if you don't wanna tell me, that's fine, too, Blake. We all have secrets."

"Easy to say when your secrets haven't been found out."

"Actually, my secrets have been out since day one by Glynda and Ozpin, but, yeah, I know what you mean." she smiled wryly. "I'm just saying, Blake. If you're insecure or something, I won't judge." she reached her right hand out, "Do you trust me?"

Blake eyed the extended hand and Tiella's smile doubtfully, considering her chances of simply running from the girl. She doubted that Tiella would follow even if she could in this situation—but something was telling her that running away then and there would be a bad idea. She carefully looked at Tiella's expression, searching for any signs of deceit.

After a few seconds, "I'm not insecure..." she reached out her hand warily, accepting the offered handshake. "So, I will— _for now_."

"Thanks, Blake." she smiled gratefully, "Again, I'm really sorry about the ribbon, and for your sake, I'm gonna forget it ever happened until you bring it up. Is that fine?"

"Yes," she replied curtly.

"Great," she nodded, "let's go catch up with the others? Still wanna come down to Vale for lunch with me?"

Blake side glanced Tiella before looking away and wordlessly agreeing with a nod.

Tiella smiled gratefully, happy that she didn't make things too awkward between them. She looked ahead and made her way to catch up with the three girls. During their walk, Tiella's mind wandered back to the memory of that particular day. She found it odd, how she managed to tell Glynda some parts of it without freaking out as she did just a while ago, so she just chalked it up to not focusing on the memory itself but simply the facts that revolved around it.

 _"Maybe I was just too distracted with being scared of getting kicked out into another world all alone compared to remembering that day? No, that's just dumb. God, I don't even care anymore. Just fuck me up. Everything that happened that's related to that fucking monster was stupid and hard to explain. He's an aberration that represents everything that shouldn't exist in the world. Fuck him and whatever made him."_

Tiella licked her dry lips before pursing them together, eyes looking ahead and around. She felt her palms go sweaty again, rubbing them dry on her pants before pocketing them. She looked steadily ahead as she became conscious of her hands slightly trembling, so she closed her fists tightly, muscles in her forearms springing up as tension was built.

Blake was a tad further than usual from beside Tiella as they walked and she noted her anxious body language.

 _"Is she remembering her trauma again?"_

She noted Tiella's tight expression and the trembling in her forearms as they walked.

 _"What am I doing?"_

Mentally berating herself, Blake looked ahead while discreetly sending glances towards Tiella. She took a step closer and called out in a soft voice.

"Hey."

Tiella glanced to her side with a questioning brow and Blake saw her forearms relax for a moment. "What's up, Blake?" she smiled, ever so forcefully.

 _"What do I say in this situation?"_

Blake thought over what to say for a few seconds with her eyes downcast. She looked up and saw her team waiting for the both em them near the airship docks, waving at them. She quietly watched her team as Tiella patiently waited for Blake to speak up.

Blake smiled, an idea coming to her mind to help the girl who now knew her secret.

"I'd like some tuna tacos later on. You did say that it was your treat."

Tiella's brow rose again, but she simply laughed it off and nodded her head. "Sure. I just hope Yang doesn't eat as much as I do."

"I'm sure she won't."

"Good to know."

"I can at least say that she can do half as much."

"Better that than the same as me, I guess." she smiled wryly.

 _"The least I can do is remember that she's not an inherently bad person. She has her secrets much like I have mine. And it looks like for now, my secret's safe. I'm safe. She's been looking out for us since that night I saw her on the rooftop."_

They finally caught up, slowing down their pace as they walked alongside the other girls. "What took you guys?" Yang asked.

"Oh, nothing." Blake said, "Tiella forgot her shirt on the floor so we went back to pick it up."

"Oh." Yang put her hands behind her head, "So where are we eating out today? Star's treat, right?" she grinned.

 _"Us, Team RWBY, specifically. I don't know if it's because of our talk... and maybe it's just a coincidence that it's us... but I'm positive that she became more accommodating of us since that night."_

"Yes, she's treating us to tuna tacos. So, somewhere in downtown Vale's shopping district."

 _"But right now, she's the one that needs looking out for."_

"Can we have some burgers after?" Yang asked Tiella.

"If you have enough room, then sure."

"Oh, don't worry, Star." she grinned, "I've got a _lot_ of room." she cupped her breasts and emphasized their size, "How do you think I got these puppies to this size?"

"Through genetics?" she grinned.

Yang opened her mouth to respond sarcastically but simply closed it and nodded with a smile, "You're not wrong."

 _"And the least I can do to the person willing to keep my secret is help distract her from her dark thoughts."_

"Ruby?" Blake called.

"Yes?" Ruby turned from the front, slowing her pace to match Blake's.

"Tiella was wondering why you weren't calling her 'Celeste' earlier, didn't you hear?"

"Celeste?" Yang asked, looking to Tiella with a curious brow and a grin.

"Oh!" Ruby lightly hitting her palm with the side of her fist, "I guess I'm just not used to it just yet. I like 'Celeste' but I'm just used to 'Tiella' right now."

"Baby steps, Little Rose." Tiella chimed, "But I'll call you Little Red for every time you forget."

"Okay!" Ruby said, pumping herself up to make sure she remembered.

"Why didn't I think of that!?" Yang nearly yelled, gesturing her arms outward, " _'Celeste'_ is a pretty good name! Don't you think so, too, Blake? Weiss?"

"I think it's a lovely name," Blake commented.

"Thanks, Blake." she smiled gratefully.

"It gave me an image of a demure Tiella wearing glasses and a summer dress while holding a book," Weiss commented offhandedly. "Imagine a muscular tall girl with thick-framed glasses in a white knee-length summer dress just shyly standing by the seashore, holding a book about proper dieting and calisthenics, in her signature twin braids."

Yang went into hysterical laughter as she imagined what Weiss said, doubling over as they walked with tears welling in her eyes. "That's _gold_."

"Hey! My eyesight's not that bad, you know!"

"Really?" Blake questioned, " _That's_ what you're concerned about?"

"It's okay, Blake. I've had people fantasize about me." grinning at Weiss salaciously. "I don't blame Weiss."

Weiss blushed up a storm, "T-The nerve of-!"

Yang wheezed, stopping in her tracks as she almost knelt down the sidewalk, earning weird looks from curious passersby. "Sto- hahahaha! Sto-...aaahaaaaaaah... I caaaaahahahan't breeeaaheheheathe! Hooo my god... Hoooo my god I'm gonna pee..."

Ruby snorted, covering her mouth as she tried to stop herself from laughing too loudly. "Ya-pfft... Yang! T-That's grohohohohohoss!"

Blake smiled a little wider, shaking her head at her friends' stupid jokes and banter. "Come on," she urged, "the airship might leave us behind and we'll end up waiting for another one."

Yang stood upright, stretching her back while taking a few deep calming breaths to ease herself before she jogged to Blake's side, "A little eager for those tuna tacos, aren't we, Blake?" she teased.

"Let's just say I've had my eye on this one stall since coming here." she smiled.

"If you say so." Yang placing her hands on the back of her head.

As they went inside the dock, Ruby received a message on her scroll.

"Hey, guys!"

"What's up, Rubes?"

"Jaune told me that he's out with his team in Vale already and that we could meet up with them if we want since they're also free."

"Really?"

"Yup, says here," showing everyone the message she received. "[yeah me and my team's out in vale to grab ammos and some specific weapon maintenance stuff but we're already done now tho so we could meet up here if you like]"

"That _physically hurt_ to read," Weiss said as she tightly closed her eyes, massaged them, and looked away in disdain.

"I feel you," Blake said with a wry smile.

"Come on, guys, it's not _that_ bad." Yang chimed.

"You only say that because you type the same way." Weiss retorted.

"You get what I mean anyway, right?"

"It's lazy!"

"That's what instant messaging is for! To make messaging _instantaneous!_ "

"I think we have something more important to settle before that." Blake interrupted while giving Tiella a look.

The four of them looked to Tiella with expectant looks in their eyes, sending her unspoken questions while patiently waiting for an answer. Tiella looked at the girls with an anxious look on her face, discreetly copping a feel for her wallet, though it didn't really go unnoticed as she wanted. Ruby smiled apologetically and was about to respond to Jaune but Tiella spoke before Ruby could even begin.

"God, I might regret this..." she muttered under her breath as she ran a hand over her face, though it was still quite audible to everyone. "This is the last day I'm eating out until next month."

"You don't really have to force yourself to-"

"Let me show off my money before I change my mind, okay, Little Rose?"

Ruby beamed, easily agreeing, "Thanks, Celeste!"

"Yeah, _Celeste,_ " Yang said teasingly.

"God, it's so weird when I hear you say it."

"Does it turn you on?" she asked with a perverted grin.

"It turns me _off._ " she said with a disgusted look on her face, "It's like sandpaper grinding on my bird box." a slight discomfort on her face.

"Wha-" Yang stuttered, not sure if she should take offense or not.

Blake nearly took a spit take, surprised to hear of a new term to call her very important lady part while Ruby simply tilted her head in confusion.

"I'm _jokiiin'_." Tiella grinned wide, happy that she caught Yang in her ruse, "You know, I was only gonna let Little Rose hog the privilege to call me that but whatever—you girls can call me however you like, I don't mind."

Yang pouted with crossed arms. Seeing the look, Tiella smiled wryly and ruffled Yang's hair—earning an even deeper pout along with a glare.

"Just not with titles, right? Ms. Margory?" Weiss added.

"You know me so well already, Weissicle." she teased back, earning a twitching brow from Weiss as she tried to keep up her grin, "Anyway, let's go before I actually change my mind."

"Okay!" Ruby beamed, sending a quick message to Jaune before leading the way into the airship docks.

* * *

"Sup, Meatshield, little sis, Nora, Ren," Tiella waved, "did I get that right?"

"Hi."

"Hello again!"

"Yup!" Nora smiled, hugging Ren sideways. "He's Nora, I'm Ren!"

"Nora, please."

"Alright, Ren," she said, clearly addressing Nora. "you guys good with fish tacos and burgers for lunch?"

Everyone happily voiced their agreements as they followed Blake towards their first stop. They then went to what Yang liked to call 'the _best_ burger joint in the city' before they all went to a nearby park to eat their slightly late lunch. They sat on a few benches lining the pavement of the park, each merrily and contentedly enjoying their meals.

They were even surprised to see that Weiss was more than happy to partake in what was essentially greasy and dirty street food.

"Wow, Weiss." Yang watched as Weiss ate through her burger in delight.

Weiss swallowed her bite and wiped her mouth with a napkin as she looked to Yang with an unspoken question.

"I didn't think you'd be down for greasy, meaty burgers."

"You should've seen her go through the calamari I bought her." Tiella grinned at the memory, "She was licking her fingers clean while _fuckin' moaning_."

"Oh my god," Yang had a big smile on her face while Weiss was doing her best not to choke on her burger. "are you for real?"

"Imagine this," Tiella held her burger up, "as the calamari."

She then reenacted what she saw yesterday, starting from hesitantly taking a bite of the burger.

"T-T-T-T-That's not t-true!"

Tiella was trying to stop a smile from appearing on her face as she continued, nodding her head much like Weiss did as she tore a small piece of the burger and put it in her mouth.

"'It's not as bad as I thought', she said." in her best impersonation of Weiss, "'It's _edible_ ', she said as she took her third calamari into her mouth."

Ruby and Blake were quietly giggling as they watched while Yang was looking between Tiella and Weiss with a grin on her face. Weiss wanted to interrupt again but was quietly stopped by Yang putting a hand on her mouth.

Tiella continued her impersonation, earning chuckles from both teams. She pretended to dip a small piece of the burger into a sauce cup then ate it. As soon as the burger was in her mouth, she was exaggeratedly moaning as sensually and as loudly as she could while licking and sucking her fingers clean, drawing deep blushes from everyone and even some passersby.

Weiss simply laughed miserably while blankly looking at the sky, "Just end me." she laughed, "I wish for a swift and painless execution—I long for the sweet embrace of the void."

"Awe," Ruby hugged Weiss close to her chest while gently caressing her head, "there, there, Weiss. I'll miss you if you go away all of a sudden."

Weiss hid her face in Ruby's chest and wrapped her arms around Ruby's waist. Ruby cooed and hugged Weiss tighter before looking to Tiella and Yang with a disapproving look—not that it was particularly effective as she simply looked like an angry puppy.

"You can't bully Weiss anymore!" she pouted with puffed out cheeks and eyebrows knit.

Yang and Tiella smiled wryly before agreeing, "Okay, Rubes."

"Alright, alright. I'll lay off the teasing." she sighed, "For now."

Ruby squinted her eyes at Tiella, "Don't you two have something to say to Weiss, first?"

Yang and Tiella shared a look between them before easily obliging.

"We're sorry, Weiss," Tiella said. "I won't tease you about food anymore."

"Yeah, Weiss." Yang said, "Even though I wasn't the one doing the teasing at all just now."

"Well, Weiss?" Ruby said as she continued to gently caress Weiss's head, "What do you say to that?"

Weiss peeked from hugging Ruby to give her _oppressors_ a blank stare. "I request the proper punishment issued by the court."

"Uh..."

"What?"

"And what does the jury have to say?" Ruby asked, glancing at everyone but Tiella and Yang.

"Guilty, I agree." Blake easily followed up with a teasing grin towards the two.

"I second the proposal." Pyrrha played along.

"Same here." Jaune followed.

"I agree."

"It is only right that the Queen punishes her law-breaking citizens!"

"Wai-" Yang reached a hand out to Ruby but was quickly cut off.

"The punishment will be for Yang to pay for our next meals today,"

"I don't have any money on me!" Yang cried.

"while Tiella-"

"Gets her legs broken!"

"What!? No!" Ruby yelled in surprise, while Tiella simply smiled with a confused look.

"No?"

"Nora, please put Magnhild away."

"But Renny-"

"Nora."

"Okaaaaaay," Nora whined, pouting while crossing her arms.

"Anyway," Ruby cleared her throat, "Tiella... uhm... What's a good punishment?"

"She stops calling and giving me stupid nicknames." Weiss quickly suggested.

"She will stop calling Weiss nicknames!" Ruby proudly announced.

Tiella watched with an amused smile as the verdict was issued. She shook her head in amusement and raised her right hand as she sat upright. Clearing her throat, "I, Tiella Margory," putting her left hand on top of her heart, "do solemnly swear that I will not call or give the victim, Weiss Schnee, any more stupid nicknames."

"Forgiven." Weiss happily nodded.

Afterward, they spent the next few hours going from place to place before Yang reluctantly withdrew some lien from her savings account—muttering something along the lines of _'even though I wasn't the one doing the teasing that time...'_. When Tiella saw this, however, she reminded Yang that she was still willing to pay for the rest of the day and that she could simply treat everyone on a later date—to which Yang happily and almost tearily bear hugged Tiella off the ground.

They went from store to store, simply window shopping for various items, each one leading the way in turns when they wanted to check something for themselves. It wasn't until Blake kept suggesting to check out books from a few different places that Tiella finally had a nickname for her.

"I now dub thee, Madame Bookstore." Tiella said, acting much like a Queen dubbing a knight, "Or Bookstore for short."

"I don't see how Bookstore is short for Bla-"

"It's your name now."

Blake gave her a blank stare in response, prompting another cheeky grin from Tiella.

"Or should we call you Lewdsto-"

"Bookstore sounds like a wonderful name." she immediately, cut in with a forced smile. "I like it."

Tiella nodded proudly while the rest simply sighed in exasperation.

After a few more hours of going around town, Tiella'd finally seen most of the city—the only place left to explore was shadier part of the city like the red light district and she'll be damned if she took minors, and more importantly, her school's _students_ , to a place where a _lot_ of illegal practices were done even in broad daylight.

 _"I think I'll visit those areas next week. Alone, preferably."_

As the light of the sun waned, they found themselves on their way back to the airship docks for Beacon Academy. Happily tired with their bellies full, most of them were already fast asleep in their seats. Ruby was using Yang's lap as a pillow who was gently caressing Ruby's head as she soundly slept. Weiss was dazedly staring out the window and Blake hung her head as she sat upright on her chair for a quick nap.

Yang discreetly glanced at Blake, _"So... Blake's a faunus. I guess with mistress Schnee in the team, she'd be reluctant to tell us, though it still makes me mad that she isn't willing to at least let me know."_

Yang looked back Ruby as she felt she'd stared long enough already, _"Looks like I'm gonna need a little talk with her. Gotta make time to make sure we end up alone."_

On Team JNPR's side, Nora, much like Ruby, was using Ren's lap as a pillow as she slept—though she slept a lot noisier compared to Ruby, muttering something about pancakes and Ursas and whatnot. Ren was doing the same as Yang, content with gently caressing Nora's hair. Pyrrha let her eyes wander within the airship while Jaune was giving it his all to stay awake throughout the flight—as shown by him sitting upright with his arms crossed in front of him while his head slowly fell forward only for him to jerk his head awake and repeat the action over and over.

Tiella, on the other hand, sat much like Blake did—head hung low with her eyes closed. Though, contrary to Blake, she wasn't taking a nap. She was simply distracted and felt that it would do no one good to let it show. So, she stayed quiet and in a deeply pensive mood, restless and unnerved for reasons she couldn't understand.

 _"Is it because I was reminded of that monster? No, this feels different, though it does feel familiar."_

Pyrrha saw Tiella sitting uncomfortably with a slightly tense expression on her face. Curious and seeing as she was sitting beside the girl, she softly called out to her.

"Tiella?"

Hearing her name, she opened her eyes and look towards the source to see her so-called little sister worriedly smiling at her.

"What's up?" she smiled back.

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you but it looked like you were in deep thought. N-Not to sound like I'd love to meddle but I just got a little worried."

Tiella raised a curious brow at the girl before giving her a reassuring smile, "It's fine. You're a good girl, too, little sis." giving her a little pat on the head.

Surprised by the action, Pyrrha blinked her eyes a few times at the girl as she stared in silence. Tiella thought that her reaction was cute which made her think that perhaps Pyrrha wasn't used to receiving head pats and the like.

"It's not anything to be worried about, really." she continued, "I just have this weird feeling in my gut that's telling me something's gonna happen soon. I'm not sure if it's good or if it's bad, but I have a feeling something big's gonna happen." she said with a slightly irritated undertone.

"I see."

"I'd tell you to ignore these things if it ever happens to you since it's baseless, but in my line of work, following my gut feeling has saved my ass a few times more often than not." she continued, earning a serious look from Pyrrha.

"Though, the worst part about it is the worrying since I can't really do anything except worry about it until it clicks and finally happens." she sighed, leaning back on her chair. "I just hope it's nothing I can't handle."

Pyrrha remained silent, unsure of what to say to her self-proclaimed big sister. She understood what Tiella was saying as she's had those moments herself, but coming from a professional, it certainly puts things into perspective. How even the smallest things that affect your state of mind can decide whether you get to wake up the next day or not.

* * *

"How's it going, Doctor?"

A blonde woman in a lab coat approached a man in the same attire. She placed a hot mug of coffee on his desk and gently blew on her own as she leaned on his desk.

He placed the small cracked orb that he'd been intently studying the past week on his desk with a soft thud. "Thank you, Karen," he said, tiredly sipping on his coffee without bothering to even blow on it, letting out a refreshed as he closed his eyes for a few. "We have a few things to worry about."

"Tielle's gone." she curtly replied.

"And if we go through with this, we might lose another one, too."

"But you said there was a chance to bring her back!" she yelled, slamming the mug on the desk, spilling a few of its contents. "We've already decided—the three of us! We need to find Tielle and bring her back," she said through grit teeth.

He sighed, taking off his glasses and massaging his forehead. "I understand how important Tiella is to everyone. She's one of our most talented soldiers-"

"Isn't that enough of a reason to go through with it!?"

"-which is exactly why I'm reluctant to go through with it!" he yelled, "Think about it! If I sent all three of you on a rescue mission, who'd be left to protect us scientists and archaeologists?"

"And I'm saying we've talked it over and decided that only one of us go-"

"And who, hmm? Who? Bardel? He's a complete buffoon but it's his strength that keeps our enemies at bay! You want to send Lillianne out instead, then? May I remind you that she's our most important asset? Without her, we would have taken _much_ longer to get to where we are today! Or are you suggesting to go on your own? Without you, who would stand in as our medic? Think rationally, Karen. It's only natural to lose people in our line of wo-"

"Dr. Jameson?" a voice called out from the tent's door. "Don't say anymore, please."

Jameson saw Lillianne taking a peek by the door while Bardel's silhouette can be found standing outside. He wondered over what Lillianne meant but immediately felt as if he couldn't thank her enough in his mind when he saw Karen looking at him murderously while tightly holding a ballpen in her hand.

Lillianne stepped inside and placed a hand on Karen's shoulder, making the girl calm down marginally before she turned her back on him and crossed her arms.

"We've talked it over, Dr. Jameson. I'll be going," she said dismissively.

She heard Karen click her tongue in irritation but remained quiet other than that. "This decision will minimize losses within the camp while letting you still operate well within the optimal range."

" _You!?_ "

"Karen can take care of my part of the job until I'm back. I'm sure you already know that before she became a medic..." giving the blonde girl a glance before returning to look back at the doctor, "...she worked as a mercenary alongside Tielle as her partner and is one of the reasons Tielle became as good as she is today."

"She's both a slacker and a hard worker." Karen chimed, eliciting a chuckle from Lillianne.

"I'd argue that she still has a lot to learn from you, based on what I've seen." she smiled wryly.

"You and her both." she scoffed.

"But I feel that I'm the best person to go and find her." she said, placing a hand on her chest, "Not to sound like I'm bragging, Doctor, but while I'm not as good as Tiella or Bardel when it comes to sheer combat abilities _yet_ , it's no exaggeration to say that I'm leagues beyond them when it comes to everything else."

"And that's why I don't want to send _you,_ of all people, aw-"

"And _I've_ decided that I'm _going_." she smiled, though her eyes were anything but happy.

"Fine." he relented, "But even if we did go through with this _suicide_ mission, we have no way to make sure that you can even return! This is _magic!_ We're a small group of archaeologists trying to figure out _M_ _agic!_ Sure, we've figured out how to make the orb work but it's already damaged and we don't even know if it'll still work later on or if we could even have it fixed aga-"

Lillianne put a reassuring hand over Jameson's shoulder and gave him a few placating pats. "I'll find a way, doctor."

"We don't even know if you'll be sent to the same place!"

"I'll be making preparations for my departure tonight and I'll leave come the morning."

Jameson looked into determined eyes of purple, finding no way to possibly make her change her mind. He sighed, "And if she's already dead?" he said, grimly.

"That's a stupid question, Doctor." she smiled, "I'll kick her ass for kicking the bucket way too soon before bringing her back, of course."

Karen chuckled softly, "You can't even beat her in a spar."

"Please don't make me look bad after I said something so cool."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes, "but I _highly_ doubt Tielle's already dead. She isn't called the most dangerous woman in the world for nothing. Knowing her, she's probably made enemies of whatever state or government she found herself at and is having the time of her life and feeling right at home."

"That's even assuming she ended up in a place with sapient lifeforms capable of building societies." Jameson sighed, dragging his hand over his face in exasperation. "For all we know, she could have ended up in a place like the Triassic period."

"Then she'd be the first woman to eat dinosaurs for dinner." Lillianne happily smiled.

"You're forgetting that she can't cook for shit, Lilly." Karen retorted. "You've seen her mess up scrambled eggs, haven't you?"

"Oh, right." Lilly smiled wryly at the memory, "I still can't believe she managed to _burn_ scrambled eggs along with the pan."

"Unbelievable. I give up." he sighed once again, "What does Bardel think of all this? I'm surprised he hasn't forced me into making him go."

"I've talked him into holding the fort while I go find Tielle. He's still guilty, after all." she said softly, "He fears that he'll be the reason Tiella dies, if ever."

A voice from outside the tent called, "I can't face Tiella until I get my shit together—Lilly's made me realize that. So, I'll stay here and make sure she has a home to return to. And if she does end up dead..." he paused, "...then I'll just have to step up even more."

"Bardel..." Karen smiled sadly.

"Besides, Lilly's the most qualified person in our camp to look for a missing person in a world we have no idea about, or so she says." he continued.

"There you have it, Doctor." Lillianne confidently smiled.

Jameson pursed his lips as he frowned in deep thought, "You _must_ find a way to return. With or _without_ Tiella."

"I'll return _with_ Tielle." she retorted, "While I'm gone, Karen will take care of my part of the job," she said, placing a hand on Karen's shoulder. "She can even train new recruits for manpower's sake. Who knows? You might find someone that can substitute for Tielle and me while we're away."

Jameson and Karen scoffed in unison, earning a chuckle from Lillianne.

"There's no one that can replace Tielle."

"And there's no one that can even hold a candle to you." he pointed, "So make sure you can return."

"I will, Doctor." she confidently saluted with a fist over her heart, "And the next time you see me," looking to Karen, "it'll be with our Tielle."

"You better make sure of it," Karen said, almost pleadingly.

Lillianne didn't say anymore. She felt that words at that point would only feel empty. She simply nodded her head resolutely before leaving the tent and moving back to her own to prepare for her departure.

She was excited, to be sure, but the feeling of anxiousness far exceeded all else for her that night.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Thank you SO much for all the positive feedback. I don't really know what to say here, really. I've replied to most of the reviews beforehand and I'm happy that people have pointed out my mistakes as well._

 _I understand that my pacing is slow as we've yet to even reach the end of V1 RWBY, but I'm working on that—at least, I try to. *sweats bullets*_

 _Thanks again for reading another chapter of Lost Star. Whether you enjoyed this chapter or not, do let me know! I'm always happy to receive feedback of any kind._

 _Not just mindless flaming or spam, please._

* * *

It was a futile battle. That much she knew.

She faced the strangest, and possibly the strongest of all aberrations. Every swing of its mighty hand rent the ground apart, gouging the earth. Each heave left deep fissures on the floor of the crumbling grand cavern. This humanoid monster with its absurd strength tirelessly mauled the ground and walls to shreds just so it can see the pest in front of him dead.

And yet she always managed to find a way to slip past each earth-rending attack with little to no damage taken. Truly she lives up to—if not exceed—the expectations set upon her by her peers. Her every weft and weave through each and every attempt to kill her shewed how even her brutal, methodical, and unorthodox fighting style could look graceful to any watchersby.

Perhaps they'd think it orchestrated? 'Twas a tragedy that no one else was there to see it.

Despite the beauty and success of her evasion, even she knew that she could not win through dodging alone. She understood this very well. And so she waited patiently—for the few moments where she could strike back. She watched her opponent's every move, as well as made sure to take in the ever-changing surroundings—careful not to trip, slip, or fall. For she also knew that one tiny mistake would mean the separation of her head and her body.

And so her best she gave. She dodged, and spun, and rolled, and hopped, and skipped, and jumped, and dashed along the battlefield. Through the crumbling cavern floor or through the air, her long, twin-braided red hair flowed along with her every movement.

Did she have enough skill that even her hair went nearly untouched? Or was it simply due to luck? Another curiosity to wonder upon.

Within moments far and few in between, she would aim to shoot her pistol, only to see its bullets stagger the man ever so slightly, if not completely bounce off. And if she ever got close, she would draw her knife around his vitals—another attempt to wound this seemingly invincible monster of a man.

 _"I have to keep him here!"_ she thought, reminding herself once more, lest she loses focus and slips to her death.

Truly, 'twas a struggle filled with beauty… and futility.

A strike rang true. The fist of the young girl before him reached his face once more, a left hook that carried all her weight. For the longest time, his continued attempts to kill her had always been evaded by a hair's breadth. However, savage as his movements were, he was patient still. She was quick and agile, a true beauty in a swift, graceful motion. Sadly, her strikes were weak.

 _Always_ weak.

 _"Laughable."_

His body was heavier and tougher than steel. His claws ripped the earth and his footfalls shattered the ground beneath his feet. He was no mortal man, and it was unthinkable even to consider the thought. He was something far different… and yet similarities remained still.

He retaliated, swinging a powerful backhand with his left only to meet air. His swing sent a powerful gust of wind, blowing away the rubble while at the same time making more. Holes appeared within the walls of the crumbling cavern where the weak light of the moon shone through.

Another strike rung. The heel of her boot met the right of his head, giving the motion all her weight and momentum, specifically aiming for his temple—yet not even an inch did he budge.

 _"Pitiful."_

Truly he believed it so. The girl before him knew she was fighting a losing battle, and it was only a matter of time.

She shewed promise, he also believed. For a girl born within a peaceful era to rise to such a caliber, one could not help but wonder what drove her so. Still, it was not enough. Not _nearly_ enough. Compared to the many great warriors of yore, she was but a fledgling. A very skillful and promising fledgling, but a _fledgling still_.

And so he retaliated once more. He spun to his right, another powerful backhand carrying a strong gust of wind that swept and created more debris within the confines of the crumbling grand cavern. And he missed once more. 'Twas at that point that he had no choice but to acknowledge her agility and quick judgment above all else if nothing else. Because in spite of his severely weakened state, unable to bring out even a tiny fraction of his true strength, he made no excuses and accepted that she was truly skillful.

Perhaps he had been a little eager to judge her earlier and had forgotten that, unlike the great warriors of yore, she did not carry with her the blessings of any god, nor was she under the protection or affiliation of any pantheon.

With that in mind, a re-evaluation was made. A normal human girl, barely stepping into adulthood, was keeping up with him to a certain extent through sheer skill alone. He imagined her with the blessing of Athena, the famed Greek Goddess of Wisdom, Handicraft, and Warfare, and he could not help but smile at the thought.

 _"Imagine, this child, with her blessings or better yet, a Chief's. I had thought it best not to underestimate her, however, it seems that I was still wrong. A shame, truly."_

Indeed she may be the second greatest mortal he's faced yet.

She jumped back to avoid being carried by the powerful gust to her left. She aimed her pistol once more and pulled the trigger, only to see that it has run out of bullets. She remembered that it was her last magazine and that her only weapon left was her knife. Her knife which did nary a scratch much like everything she threw at him.

She decided it best not to throw her pistol away, however, and held it in reverse grip instead, much like some would hold another bladed weapon.

He saw this short hesitation and capitalized. He sent a right straight toward the ground where she stood, where a more powerful, concentrated gust of wind blew. The earth exploded, creating a thick cloud of dust among the debris.

 _"She dodged again."_ He knew better than to think that his attacks would hit, however, he still tried. Because he, much like she, understood that it was only a matter of time for him to win.

"Heh…"

During this long, arduous battle, she saw him chuckle, grinning to himself as if lost in thought. "What's so funny?" she asked, wary and never leaving her battle stance, for she felt the strain of her fight finally creeping up to her.

Her whole body was sore. And yet, 'twas not the type of soreness one would gain from a beating, she felt, but simply from continuous strenuous movements. Clearly, she felt winded but she, too, knew that she may still keep up the fight for a little while longer.

 **"** _ **What is your name?**_ **"** he asked with a point of his finger, finally speaking his first words to her.

She felt his voice ring and echo repeatedly inside her head. An odd sensation washing over her, as if his voice skipped going through her ears and went straight into her brain. Cursing loudly in her mind over and over, for it nearly drove her mad—and yet, it wasn't as if he was speaking so loudly.

"Who wants to know?" indignantly, she yelled through clenched teeth as she did not feel the need to answer him in courteousness.

"'Tis true, it had indeed been long since I last walked the earth." he lowered his hand and slowly tilted his head up with eyes closed.

Was he reminiscing? She did not know… but what she did know was that she knew a trap when she saw one. And so, her ground she stayed.

"I wish to remember your name, child. 'Tis the least I can do to you who are stepping into her grave."

She was grinding her teeth—a reflexive but pointless action. 'Twas all she could do against the ringing in her head. Her voice strained, she answered as best she could.

" _One…_ " she held one finger up. "That… didn't answer… my question…!" and immediately she returned to her battle stance. She panted through clenched teeth, the ringing in her head easing into a low lull and shortly into nothing.

" _Two…_ " she held two fingers up. " _You won't be knowing anyway because I'm not dying any time soon!_ "

And so it was that with a heart as calm as the still and cloudless starry sky that she charged in once more, determined to keep her peers safe. She understood that this battle was fruitless, one where knew she would never defeat the adversary before her. But she stood to lose more than she would gain should she ignore this man.

However, was it truly hopeless?

There she went, braving a foe who conjured an _immense_ and _irrational fear_ and _awe_ by simply _existing_ , and she was _braving_ it. When her legs should have been kissing the ground beneath her feet just like every man that saw him before she did, she used hers to run towards him. When her arms should have been outstretched as if to emphasize his greatness just as everyone else had done, she used hers to attack him.

When she knew her attacks were dealing naught, she still went at it. What drove her so? Was she mad? Was she truly facing her fear of him so well? Or was it because she had another fear that was _far_ greater than the one she felt when she faced him?

She rolled under another left hook, one that nearly knocked her off balanced had she been a split second slower. When she got behind him, she struck him with an elbow that once more carried her weight and momentum, a technique she had been mastering for nearly a decade. A technique where one rotates their entire body just before a strike to release an explosive amount of force that would not be possible compared to a simple strike. She's yet to master the technique, she believed, however, her body had memorized the movements that striking like so was second nature.

She jumped back immediately after the strike in anticipation of his next attack, however, it never came. She wondered what got to him and nearly entertained the thought that the last hit actually did something to his body that was tougher than steel.

Slowly he turned around to face his opponent once more and questioned in a tone filled with genuine curiosity. "Why are you not using your gift?"

The ringing invaded her mind once more, however she chose to ignore it both in favor of his question and as a bluff. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Is it perhaps because you see it as a curse instead due to its nature? Do you truly believe that I would not notice something so immensely powerful?"

For the first time since the beginning of their battle, she had been caught off guard. She stood in her battle stance wide-eyed, wondering how he knew. She supposed after a few seconds of thought that it should have been expected of him.

"I don't need it to win against someone like y-"

 **"Lies."**

The ringing in her mind was _far_ stronger than it was ever since he spoke. So much so that she fell to a knee and tightly held her head with both hands as if she clung for her life—grinding her teeth as she went through excruciating aches bouncing from the recesses of her mind.

Still, despite the pain, she answered through tightly grit teeth. " _I… do...n't need… IT!_ "

"I can tell that you're lying, child," he stated matter of factly. He walked over to her, who was still kneeling in pain, and towered before her. He caressed her head gently, consoling her as if she was truly a mere child like he'd been calling her all this time. The act was not meant to patronize, no. It was done truly to console a child like a parent would do to their own. "You understand the need to use it against me, yet I believe that something holds you back."

She tried to break free of his hand by shaking her head violently, to which he willingly complied. " _Just shut your fucking hole!_ " she yelled in pain and anger, feeling so belittled.

He could have killed her so easily and yet he didn't. 'Twas a grand opening that he could have easily exploited any number of times throughout the fight simply by yelling and he never once used it to his advantage. All the confidence she felt through the long hours of fighting him was shattered and grounded to dust.

She never even realized how hopeless it truly was for her, even when she knew that it was just so.

"I see," he spoke with despondency in his voice. "How disappointing." he knelt in front of her and caressed her head ever so gently once more, knowing what his speaking does to her. **"However, I can fix that,"** he whispered close to her ear.

She jerked with a yell, beads of sweat rolling on her skin as she felt pain throughout her body, causing her to embrace herself tightly through the pain. Old scars ached and burned as if reliving the days she'd long to forget.

She wiped her forehead with her blanket, soaking it through and through. She breathed hard and heavy, wary of her surroundings as she feared for her life, confused as she was already. After a few moments of getting her bearings together, she'd realized that it was all just a dream.

She stood from her bed and checked the time, noting that it was 2:49 am. She wore her dress shirt after wiping herself down, foregoing buttoning it up altogether along with a pair of panties before stepping out for the kitchen where the fridge was. She took a glass and filled it with cold water from the glass pitcher and drank—as if thirstily drowning her fear and disdain away.

She saw a dim light across the room, finding Glynda in her sleepwear, worriedly eyeing her from just outside her bedroom door.

"I heard a yell, are you alright?"

She took deep breaths, easing her breathing after drinking so thirstily. "Yeah." she nodded.

"Are you sure?" taking a step closer.

"Really." she smiled, "You know those times when you're dreaming of falling?"

"Oh," she said, though not truly believing that it was certainly the case. "I see."

"Yeah," she smiled wryly, "and I was having a fun time flying like a bird, too. Shame."

"Hmm." a noncommittal reply, making Tiella believe that Glynda wasn't falling for her lies. "In that case, I'll be going back to sleep. So, you should, too."

"I will." she smiled.

Glynda went back into her room and softly shut the door.

"God damn it." she softly cursed.


	21. Chapter 21

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Fun Fact: The unnamed monster in Tiella's nightmare is actually the very first character I made with regards to the original story where Tiella comes from and nearly everything and everyone else that was made after him was to emphasize that particular character._

 _Also, the fight sequences in that chapter, the trio's match against "Monster" and Tiella's dream were all written beforehand already. And when I had a close friend proofread and review Tiella's nightmare, I was told that "Monster" strongly reminded him of Thanos, so it made me really happy that someone pointed that out again._

 _I never intended for him to resemble Thanos, as unbelievable as that sounds since I don't think not a single person on the planet probably hasn't heard of his name at the very least. When I made "Monster", I based him off of one of my most favorite villains from a certain Japanese light novel. I loved that villain so much that I actually wanted him to win against the heroes even though I love them, too._

 _So, when Avengers: Infinity War first came out, I was pleasantly surprised (I'm lying, I was actually extremely excited) to see that the Thanos in the MCU was similar to my favorite villain and this helped into pushing me to finally try to flesh out and write my own version of my dearly beloved villain._

 _And then Endgame came and so did I._

 _I'm rambling again, sorry. Please, move on ahead to chapter 21!_

* * *

A kick was swung... and in its wake, a violent wind rippled through the air.

A backhand countered—forcefully sending the kick the other way.

A loud impact resonated within the arena—blowing dust and rose petals away.

"Doing good, Little Rose!"

"Hng!"

Tiella spun with the momentum gained from having her kick parried, she went low and spun onto her back—doing windmills on the arena's floor—increasing her rotational force as she moved forward, her extended legs aimed to kick, while at the same time, keep Ruby at a distance.

Ruby jumped back as expected and used that short amount of time to plan her counter. However, just as Tiella expected her to do when she forced her to jump back, Tiella used her momentum from doing windmills to kick herself off the ground, vaulting high into the air with her body parallel to the ground for a high-speed spinning kick that aimed to crash on Ruby's head.

After a week of spars with Tiella since they officially began, Ruby's gotten used to her wide variety of fighting styles that change at almost little to no warning, hence, she grinned as she also expected Tiella to attack the moment she backed off.

Ruby caught Tiella's shin with her forearms and with the help of her Aura, Speed, and parrying techniques she'd practiced with Crescent Rose, she guided Tiella's kick to the side as she went deeper into Tiella's space—jumping high empowered by her Speed to meet Tiella's awkwardly falling body with a knee to her midsection, blowing the girl away until she rolled on the floor.

"Hiyaaaa!"

Tiella quickly stood from the roll to a knee, grinning at Ruby as she held her forearm up to her stomach. She stood upright, shaking her forearm. "Good thinking meeting my kick with a counter, Little Rose. You're a fast learner."

"Yeah," she gasped in labored breathing, "but you still blocked it with your arm." she pouted.

"That's 'cause the only thing you've got going for you is that you're fast."

Ruby tilted her head cutely in confusion at Tiella's words, hanging her head to the side as she caught her breath.

"I'm saying your hits aren't strong enough, but most importantly, you're still predictable, Little Rose." she smiled, "Even with a Speed Semblance like yours, if I know where you're trying to hit me and I time it right, I can still block your hits, more or less." she shrugged, "At the very least—I can push it away a little to make you miss your intended mark, minimizing the damage I take even if slightly."

Ruby sighed exasperatedly, sweat dripping down the side of her head. "You make it sound so easy."

"Only because I've spent a lot of time getting hit and learning to take a hit. I'm sure even you'll be able to do at least this much if you keep going the way you're going now." patting Ruby's head, "That kick hurt like a bitch, though." rubbing her forearm with her left hand.

"Thanks…" she smiled wryly, rubbing her left forearm gingerly, "I can't feel my arm, though…"

"Which makes me wonder..." she said, walking towards Ruby lazily. "...using your Speed as part of your attacks is something I rarely see you do when you're wielding your scythe. Why is that?"

"Oh," sitting down cross-legged on the arena, "that's because Crescent Rose is a little too heavy for me to expertly handle. If I try to swing her _using_ my Semblance, I get all clumsy so my grip weakens and gets shaky and there's a _really_ high chance of her slipping out of my hands when that happens." she explained, noting the curious expression on Tiella as she squatted in front of her. "So, I just sort of go for a super dash with my Semblance when I have my beloved positioned to cut along the way."

"Makes sense," she said, nodding her head to the side. "But, why did you choose a scythe that big anyway? Sickles not good enough for you?"

"It's just that Uncle Qrow uses a great scythe and I thought it was super cool how he was able to swing something so big with so much skill and precision and I wanted to be like that, too."

"Yeah?" she thought back to her meeting with Qrow last week, remembering her first impression of the man, "Looked like a gun guy to me."

"You've met Uncle Qrow?"

"Some time last week, yeah."

"He didn't let us know that he dropped by again!"

"We had a meeting that day and he was in a hurry to get back on his job." she smiled wryly.

Curious, "So, what did you think of Uncle Qrow?"

Putting a hand to her chin while looking up, "Scraggly old man that could use a drink or two."

"But he's always drunk."

"That's what Glynda said, too. Doesn't mean he doesn't need another." she grinned.

"Well..." she smiled wryly, "Uncle Qrow's weapon is a great sword that can mecha-shift into a great scythe."

"Now _that_ I gotta see." She grinned, imagining how cohesive his weapon was.

"It's also a shotgun," she added.

She squinted her eyes and shook her head sideways in bewilderment, "What is _up_ with people making everything a gun? I swear if the next time I buy a home appliance and it turns out to be a gun as well I'm gonna _freak_."

Ruby giggled at the thought, a weaponized stand fan with muzzles on the center was her first idea.

"It just makes carrying a weapon easier. It started back in the Great War when countries would fight other people then worry about a massive Grimm invasion during or right after the fight—because, y'know, war is bad and Grimm like bad stuff—so, for mobility and utility's sake, Atlas pioneered standard bladed weapons that had some form of gun mechanism integrated. It was a little odd at first but eventually, their elite soldiers or special forces found it more useful especially when they ran out of ammo. Other kingdoms saw how effective it was so they started designing their own mecha-shift gun-blades as soon as they could."

Tiella nodded her head as she listened intently, "Interesting."

"After the war was over, the constant Grimm invasions that followed was the next big problem—and it's usually the villages outside the four kingdoms' borders that get attacked—so, huntsmen and huntresses used the same idea to hunt Grimm but they made their weapons more capable of bringing down huge hordes—massive ones, or flying ones—while also making them more personalized to their fighting style and Semblance, too. That trend kept going decades later and now you see that some weapons even have their wielder's own personal flair."

"Like how you made yours mainly red—like Little Red Riding Hood."

"I... don't know who Little Red Riding Hood is but I'm guessing that sort of fits my look?"

 _"Ah, right. Not Earth. Keep forgetting."_ She just nodded her head at Ruby's guess in affirmation, "To a T."

Ruby tilted her head and smiled wryly, a little curious about what sort of person Tiella was talking about.

"Anyway..." she said, sitting down on the floor after feeling her legs go a little numb.

"Yes?"

"I just realized something."

"What is it?"

"You're a _huge_ nerd, Little Rose."

"I-I-I, w-well- I,"

" _Relaaax_ , it's not a bad thing. I have a friend who's a huge nerd about _everything_."

Ruby sighed in relief as she was a little worried that she'd be made fun of because of it.

"About everything?" She wondered.

"Name's Lillianne but I'll tell you about her some other time," she said, lightly patting Ruby on the head as she stood. "Going back, you're clumsy with a heavy scythe when you use your Speed, I get that now, so, why not try to make it lighter?"

"I thought about it before but I can't really make her any lighter than she is now without sacrificing sturdiness and power when I don't have the right materials—and, you know, those high-end materials are _super_ expensive—but now that I can fight unarmed, I can isolate my Speed to only affect my arm or my leg!"

"Thereby conserving Aura and keeping your balance even when you go past the speed of sound." she followed, bending forward to pat Ruby on the head. "Nice idea."

She giggled a little, happy to receive praise and another pat on the head. She sort of missed Yang's pats on the head, but that's okay. Then she remembered the soreness in her arm and the slight numbness on her knee, "Not as impressive when you still end up blocking it." she pouted with a cross of her arms.

"It's a matter of experience, Little Rose." she reassured, "If you'd used your Speed on me the first day I came here, I probably wouldn't have been able to block it at all and that could've meant an easy victory for you."

"Really?" she wondered a little starry-eyed at the idea.

"Just because I'm the one teaching you doesn't mean you're the only one learning," she said, offering a hand for Ruby. "Honestly, I find your Semblance to be the most troublesome one for me to handle."

"Why's that?" accepting the offered hand.

"Well, you see... Blake's tricky, sure, but after a while, you get used to her hit and run tactics. Smart fighter, that girl—she knows her strengths and weaknesses well." Tiella walked to the side of the arena where the rest of Team RWBY was waiting.

"Yang's fighting style is not only a little similar to mine but also a pretty common fighting style where I'm from. So, it's pretty easy for me to read through her moves. And now that I know how her Semblance works, I just have to hit her hard enough that she wouldn't be able to use it."

"That's…" Ruby drawled, "...I was gonna say that that's easier said than done but I forgot that you can hit as hard as Yang does with her Semblance loaded up." she said with a hand on her chin, earning a chuckle from Tiella.

"Weiss has a wide variety of offensive and defensive techniques with her entire kit, too, but I've seen her forget that she has some moves with her Semblance that can make things so much easier for her in certain situations—like suspending someone in the air, binding their limbs to stop them from moving before she goes in for a finishing blow."

"I actually wondered about that, too, so I asked her why she doesn't use those moves more often."

"Yeah? What'd she say?"

"She said that relying on a move way too much would make her forget her other moves and that she doesn't wanna end up being unreliable if those particular moves failed."

"Like I thought, then." she grinned proudly, "She's a really smart girl."

"Yeah! Weiss is the best!"

"You on the other hand…"

"Hm?"

"...kinda works the same way but at the same time the opposite as Weiss. Unlike, Weiss' Glyphs, you only have one power up to use, which is your Speed," she said, earning a curious tilt from Ruby.

"But you can apply your Speed in a variety of ways, which, depending on your imagination, could result in devastating results," she said, remembering the time she was gloriously implanted into a wall. "In the end, it all boils down to how creative you get with using your tools."

"Imagination..."

"I wouldn't put it past you to eventually learn how to fly with your Semblance," she said with a wave of her hand half-jokingly.

Ruby paused in her steps as she fell deep in thought. She thought back to all the instances when her friends were creative with what they had on hand.

 _"Like how she figured out that using my scythe techniques with my bare hands was enough to make me fight back. Yeah, that was really creative of her... I never would have thought of that myself if she hadn't made me do it. I owe her a lot in that regard. And that's probably the answer to the assignment she gave me a week ago. Imagination."_

The times Pyrrha used her Polarity to hold her shield steady in the air for her to use as a platform for a mid-air maneuver—either to dodge or to give chase. The moments Yang used her shotgun recoils to build more force to her flying attacks. How Nora created minor explosions to maneuver herself in mid-air. Or even how Jaune would use his shield in its sheath form as a secondary weapon for a more aggressive or flexible tactic.

 _"I was really surprised to see Jaune improve so much this past week. Still a little clumsy in some moves but it's a lot of improvement."_

"Rubes!"

 _"But... hmm... now that unarmed combat is open for me to improve again... how do I want to do it? Do I want to get as good as Celeste? Or is it really just so I can fight back until I get my hands on Crescent Rose?"_

"Ruby?"

 _"There's also the option of combining everything I'm learning in unarmed combat into my armed combat, but that's gonna be a lot of experimenting and practicing and I'm not sure if I have the time for that even if it's gonna be super cool if I pull it off."_

"Uh, Remnant to Ruby?"

 _"Maybe I can try fighting with a free hand while holding onto Crescent Rose in case my opponent comes into close quarters range?"_

"He- _llo—o!_ "

 _"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea... maybe I can ask Celeste for help with that, too."_

"Screw it."

"Whoa!" Ruby panicked, wildly swinging her arms in the air as she tried escaping her unknown captor. "What's happening!?"

"Ruby, you're gonna get hit if you don't get out of the arena and Celeste and Weiss got tired of waiting for you to get out already," she said sternly.

"Oh," she looked to her supposed captor as she was being carried away like a sack of potatoes and found that it was only her sister dear. "hey, Yang."

"I don't know what's got you thinking that much but you still gotta pay attention to your surroundings, Rubes." Scolding lightly, "You know how it is to spar with Weiss—loads of Dust blasts everywhere—and with you still standing there, she can't really go all out."

"Sorry about that." Smiling apologetically, she watched Weiss attempt to gain the upper hand in the spar using a wide variety of combinations involving her Glyphs and her fencing only. "But it looks like she's focusing on her swordplay and Glyphs this time."

Yang put Ruby down as they got to the side of the arena and observed the match for herself. "You're right." she nodded, looking to her side where Blake was. "Looks like she's still struggling."

Weiss backflipped with her hands, assisted with a Glyph for a short speed boost, to move out of Tiella's ax kick and was barely able to block a left hook that aimed straight for her chin with Myrtenaster, skidding a few steps backward.

"It's Tiella—I'd be surprised if anyone could actually put her at a disadvantage for an extended period of time," Blake commented matter-of-factly, idly watching their spar.

"What about Pyrrha? She's never won against her."

"But those were all close fights," she retorted, side glancing at Yang for a quick second before she returned to watching the spar, "not a single one of those spars put her at a complete disadvantage. She's been caught off guard a lot of times by Pyrrha already, which is a testament to the skill of The Invincible Girl—but, much like Pyrrha, she always had an answer to nearly every situation—so even if you managed to catch her off guard, you usually only have about 2 seconds to actually do something effective with it because the next time you try it again, you're very much likely to fail."

Weiss sprinted at Tiella, summoning multiple Glyphs to surround Tiella and another one on her feet that boosted her leg power as she lunged in—aiming for a stab that nearly hit.

As she flew by, she quickly maneuvered herself in mid-air to step on a Glyph while she was parallel to the ground for a swipe. She kept at her attacks fiercely, flying and dashing from Glyph to Glyph, never letting Tiella do anything more than a slight parry until her final Glyph which was placed directly above Tiella.

She gracefully jumped down with a spin, forcefully burying Myrtenaster deep into the arena while Tiella barely dodged to the side. Weiss immediately flipped away from Tiella before she took a defensive stance to catch her breath.

"My turn." Blake heard Tiella say in her grin. It put Weiss on edge as shown by her stiffened posture before quickly switching to an offensive stance and lunging at Tiella.

Weiss wanted to intercept and stop Tiella from gaining the offensive before she could but to her surprise, Tiella confronted the lunge head-on with a straight kick that aimed for her face, urging her to back off, however it was too late when she tried.

Tiella moved her body to the side as she kicked, blocking Weiss' view with her boot while she grabbed the tip of her sword to pull it away. Weiss met her boot painfully, making her roll away in a daze, and once she'd stood and come to, she was surprised to note that her sword was missing from her hand.

"Gotta say, Weiss," Tiella said, carefully eyeing Myrtenaster in fascination, "this has _got_ to be the most elegant weapon I've ever seen." She did a couple test swings and stabs to get a feel for the sword before she nodded her head in satisfaction. "It's got a nice, heavy weight to it due to its long blade," she said, looking at Myrtenaster's blade from the end of the hilt as if she was holding a rifle while aiming it at Weiss who looked awestruck. "and I didn't expect it to have a sharp edge. Guess my lack of sword knowledge shows there, huh?"

She held Myrtenaster to her side and leaned on it as if it was a cane. "Whatever, I don't need 'em anyway," she said casually, earning a sigh of relief from Weiss. "But I've never tried fighting with a sword before..." she grinned, making Weiss stiffen up even more than before.

"When you put it _that_ way..." pensive, Yang thought back to what she'd overheard about her going toe to toe with an invincible monster and was quickly reminded of Tiella's trauma. "...makes you think she's impossible to win against."

"Is _the_ Yang Xiao Long getting cold feet?" Blake teased, "Finally found something you're not willing to face again?"

"Nah, it's nothing like that..." She calmly waved her off with a hand, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of her facing an unkillable Grimm by her lonesome. "...it's just that..."

Blake raised a questioning brow at her partner's uncharacteristic seriousness from her tone, expression, and pause. Yang leaned close to her and whispered her thoughts to her.

 _"This is insane!"_ Weiss thought as she panicked.

Tiella's grin was ferocious as she wildly swung with Myrtenaster at Weiss who was giving her all to dodge every single attempt at harming her. It was obvious to Weiss how much of an amateur Tiella was at wielding a sword—she noted Tiella's grip was on the wrong part of the hilt, how she was gripping it too tightly, how her swings and stabs were somewhat clumsy, how her breathing wasn't in line with her attacks, and so on—but that didn't mean she would take Tiella easily.

Quite the opposite, in fact—as Weiss was currently experiencing.

 _"Her wild movements are so difficult to read!"_

Weiss used a Glyph to deflect a stab to the side as she backed off with another Glyph on her feet to assist with her jump.

 _"How in the world do I deal with that!?"_

Tiella almost tripped forward as her stab was parried away, causing her to pause in her attacks for a moment. She tapped the blade on her hand as she thought, waving the sword as she recounted in her head Weiss' most common fighting stances and sequences.

"I can't imagine going through the same thing as Tiella did. Even though she couldn't tell us the story, just the fact that _she_ became speechless and trembling like _that?_ It made me wonder if I'm really up for this whole huntress gig, you know?"

"I get you," she paused, taking note of the uncharacteristic show of weakness from her normally confident and boisterous partner, "but Yang…"

"Hm?"

"You're not Tiella." she said, earning a confused look, "And you'll never be Tiella."

Yang remained silent, waiting for her partner to continue.

Blake's eyes went down as she thought over her next words, only looking back to the spar as she spoke again, "She's someone we all look up to and in her two weeks at Beacon, she's already made a small amount of the student population aspiring to be just like her."

Yang looked back to the spar as well, though her attention was still mostly towards Blake.

She smiled. "I've even seen some students that are curious about whether they could join Ruby and Weiss, too." gesturing for Yang to look around the arena.

Tiella closed her eyes steadied her breathing—matching it with the beating of her heart—holding the hilt of Myrtenaster close to her chest in her left hand as she stood upright. She put her left foot forward and took a lunging stance, pointing the sword at Weiss—much like how Weiss normally would—who was growing more and more anxious and incredulous by the second.

 _"Oh, you've_ _ **got**_ _to be kidding m-"_

The thought was cut short as she sidestepped the thrust by the breadth of her hair, parrying the blow as well with her open palm enhanced by a strengthening Glyph. Tiella, overextended from her lunge, kept going forward, taking clumsy steps to break her fall.

 _"Good, she's still clumsy—I still have a chance."_ she thought, determined to severely punish Tiella the next time she made another elementary mistake in her attempts to copy her fighting style.

"Fuck this shit, I can't be graceful like Weiss," she said, holding Myrtenaster less like a rapier and more like a cutlass—the tip lowered to the floor and her hold on it a little less tight. "I can always copy someone else."

 _"There goes my chance."_

"If I remember correctly..." speaking to herself, she slowly walked towards Weiss as she searched her memories, "...Lillianne fought like this."

 _"Lillianne?"_ Weiss thought, repeating the name in her mind as she searched her memories for any such person with the same name and also a likely swordswoman. Though, after much thought, she couldn't find any immediate person that matched what little description she knew.

Tiella focused, syncing her breathing and heartbeats as one. She held Myrtenaster at eye level and parallel to the ground with one hand and held her right forearm out in a defensive manner. "Except she had a shield and I don't."

Due to said lack of a shield, she instead held Myrtenaster with both hands while lowering herself to the ground with her legs spread wide.

Ruby watched in wide-eyed anticipation with a big smile on her face, completely absorbed in the match before her. _"What is she doing..?"_

 _"Nah, I'm being stupid—rapiers aren't for two-handing."_ Tiella took a neutral stance again—holding Myrtenaster in her left hand and simply standing upright with her left foot slightly forward and the other closely behind it. _"I think I'll just give her a better challenge instead."_

 _"Well, at least she realized it immediately."_ Weiss thought as she watched Tiella change from stance to stance. _"Though I have to admit, despite doing everything wrong, she's still intimidating... and the scary part is she wasn't even trying to be scary. She reminds me of Winter in that regard."_

Weiss entered a defensive stance with her open palms raised in front of her—right hand forward, left hand back. _"Nonetheless, her spontaneity makes her incredibly unpredictable and it really drives home the fact that I_ _ **still**_ _can't figure out how to actually fight against her. Does that make Ruby a better fighter just because she can already trade blows with this woman despite always losing?"_

She circled around Tiella as she continued watching her—noting the pensive expression on the taller girl's face as she idly looked back at her. _"I don't know, and frankly, I don't believe I have the time to worry about it right now."_

Tiella grinned at Weiss after a bit before she spun Myrtenaster by the handle in her hand a few times and gripping it tightly in reverse. Muscles in her arm bulged from the immense tension and buried the sword hilt-deep into the arena—causing a few cracks to form around it. Wordlessly, Tiella put her left foot atop Myrtenaster as she grinned wider, leaning forward, taunting Weiss with a lazy beckoning hand.

"Come and get it, Weissy." she said in a clear and loud voice, overheard even from the sides of the arena. "This match won't end until you draw your sword within the next 5 minutes."

Ruby felt excited, eagerly watching and waiting in childlike anticipation of the match to come. _"Just 5 minutes!?"_

 _"5 MINUTES!?"_ stunned by the sudden challenge proposed—or rather, forced—on her, she stared back at Tiella in a mix of anger and disbelief, _"That's too short!"_

Tiella grinned in delight as she watched the expression on Weiss changed from surprise to anger, and finally, begrudging resignation. "What's 'a matter, Weiss? 5 minutes too long? _Why didn't you say so!?_ " she yelled, spreading her arms wide and animatedly waving them at Weiss, further mocking the girl.

"Wha-"

"If it was too much time for you-"

"Hold on-"

"Let's just shorten it-"

"NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT IT BEING TOO LO-"

"-down to 3 minutes!"

Tiella's grin turned madder and madder as she enjoyed the disbelief and frustration in Weiss' eyes. "Your punishment when you fail to draw your sword in time is another round of your workout right after the match."

"But that's..." Weiss could find no words to describe the feeling of immense frustration welling in her chest, so she remained silent instead.

"Opt out and we double everything."

A look of hard determination was immediately on Weiss' face. She entered her combat stance once more, summoning protective Glyphs on her palms. "Hmph, just 3 minutes? You've _got_ to be underestimating me."

"That's the spirit," she said, taking a fighting stance as well, taunting Weiss again with another beckoning wave of her hand. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Taking it as her cue, Weiss lunged at her—feeling more determined than ever before.

* * *

 _15 minutes later..._

"...46...47... haaah... haaah..."

"You can do it, Weiss! Almost there!"

"I... ugh-... I k-know... Ruby. Let me... focus..."

"Sorry! I'll keep quiet now."

" _...4...8..!_ "

Weiss strained her arms, trying her damnedest to go the last few counts of her push-ups. With her whole body trembling through the pain, she pushed herself upwards, sweat slowly pooling on the floor.

" _...49...!_ "

She held her position as she tried in vain to steady her breathing. She wheezed and gasped, breathing labored through all her accumulated fatigue not just from the spar but also from her personalized workout program courtesy of Tiella.

 _"I shouldn't be doing this… but I just can't anymore…"_

She stayed her pose for a few seconds longer, earning an anxious look from Ruby as she looked back and forth between her and Tiella who was steadily approaching with a stern expression. Weiss saw Tiella's shadow beside her, prompting her to move again, however…

"What the fuck did I tell you about resting between reps!?"

Tiella lightly slapped her bottom, the sound heard by everyone who was near enough—some even got distracted from their own workouts. The slap made her fall, her cheek hitting the floor beneath her, letting her groan in disgust as she unwillingly remained on the floor where her sweat pooled, heaving deep breaths.

"I…" she gasped the words out, "I'm… sorry…"

" _Are you?_ " she asked, mercilessly looking down on Weiss with her arms crossed.

Weiss didn't answer—she couldn't. She was too exhausted to do so. So, she simply tried getting up off the floor again to do her last rep.

"Not answering, huh."

Ruby bit her fingernails as she watched the exchange. It always scared her how Tiella could be so encouraging about a lot of things, even during their spars, but when it came to exercising in particular…

With a voice devoid of her usual warmth, "Do it again from the top."

...it's as if she had a mental switch in her brain that made her so ruthless and punishing.

Weiss cursed internally, mentally berating herself as she deeply regretted taking those scant seconds of relief. Wordlessly, she nodded her head and started over. Tiella looked around her, eyeing Ruby and even Yang and Blake who were doing their own workouts.

"This lack of discipline from performing the simplest actions is the reason why you keep getting your asses handed to you during spars! Wasted movements! Taking the easy way out! I'll have none of that when we're building you up!"

She paced around Weiss, critically glaring at the rest of the girls as she spoke, "Because honestly, I can't fucking _believe_ you all got by fighting the way you do. All you know are flashy moves, prioritizing how _cool_ you'd look instead of thinking through your _goddamned skulls_ how effective said move would be in the first place. I guess all you've ever faced were _fucking weaklings_."

She stopped and looked down to where Weiss was, " _Am I right_ , Weiss?"

Weiss didn't answer immediately, intently focusing on doing her reps with her trembling body.

"Didn't hear me again, _did you?_ "

"No!" Weiss yelled, straining both her voice and her arms.

She smirked, "You're saying I'm wrong, Weiss?" she threatened.

"You are!"

"Then prove it! Do the last of your set correctly!" she yelled, sending glares at her then to the other three,

"I will!" she yelled through grit teeth.

"That goes for the rest of you!" she said, throwing her hand up in annoyance, "Ruby! Don't think I didn't notice you pushing the amount of time you take before doing your reps! When I said to pause between reps, I didn't say it for you to take breaks, pausing slightly in between reps is to make sure you use those fucking muscles! Strain your muscles further! Goddamn ' _child prodigy'_ can't even get shit right."

She looked to Yang, "Yang! What the fuck kind of sit-ups is that!? Are you gonna keep bouncing off the momentum of your every rep like a fucking pussy or are you gonna square the fuck up and let your muscles do all the work!?"

And lastly, to Blake, "Blake! Wheezing already, are you? What, gonna puke because you're tired and can't take it anymore? Pathetic, Blake! Your stamina's still weak as shit! You're joining me and Velvet tomorrow onwards!"

She turned, walking to her seat in exasperation, "Weaklings, the lot of you! Pampered maggots thinking you're hot shit just 'cause you can win against a couple fucking pussies in spars. You'll get your praises when you earn 'em!"

She looked at each girl, noticing the irked looks on their faces, "I'm starting to think you like it when I'm talking shit at you because there's barely any improvement, ladies! Come on! Chop chop!"

They all chose to remain silent, intently focusing on what they were doing, even Ruby who was simply waiting for everyone to finish up. She noticed Weiss was breathing even harder as she struggled to continue.

She sighed, plopping into her chair, "Soon as you're done, take the rest of the weekend off from your workouts." she waved, "But don't you little shits think you can skip out on the morning run—especially you, Blake! You're gonna run with me and Velvet or die trying!"

With a fierce glare, she gave everyone one last glance, "If you die, just walk it off."

* * *

At the end of their workout, Team RWBY settled into their dorms after another day under Tiella's care. However, unlike their first day under her, they weren't as exhausted. Very sore, yes— but they still had more than enough energy to go through the rest of their day until their usual sleep time.

Yang was on her bed listening to her playlist as per usual and she was idly caressing her stomach, feeling a certain hardness to them that she'd never really felt before. She found it a little funny, and admittedly she was curious, that Tiella always turned into a merciless drill sergeant every time they're doing their workouts and only then.

She jumped down her bed, feeling the strain in her legs and upper body when she landed on bent knees. She sauntered up to the full body mirror in their shared walk-in closet and stripped her top off, leaving herself in only her bra.

"Yang?" Ruby called, pausing from reading her comic book, "What are you doing?" she asked, curiously watching Yang do a few poses in front of the mirror.

Yang tucked her stomach in, revealing slightly toned four pack abs while at the same time flexing her right bicep. "Nothing, really. I just noticed that I'm slowly getting to Celeste's build." She turned around and held both arms up to flex them along with her back. "It's only been around a week since we started, but damn, that's the most progress I've done in my life."

Blake glanced from her book at Yang doing her poses, curiously eyeing her partner's build and noting the slight but noticeable difference between last week and the current week. "I suppose that without Aura to assist, the entire burden falls to our bodies. She's quite merciless but she produces pretty amazing results," she said, also carefully eyeing her own toned arms—particularly her biceps and triceps.

"Yeah," Ruby chimed, taking a look at her own tucked in stomach—revealing a slowly forming four-pack, "she always scares me whenever she does that but I guess she just doesn't want us to feel complacent?"

"I'm honestly a little worried whether I'll become bulkier than I'd like to be," Weiss added, also taking a look at her own slowly developing arms and back.

"Why's that?" Ruby asked with a slight head tilt.

"I just personally don't feel like building a lot of muscle mass," she shrugged, "It might affect my speed and flexibility—also, I have a figure to keep up. I wonder if I can consult with her about it?"

"I think I look _great!_ " Yang yelled as she stepped out of the closet, holding a side-chest bodybuilding pose in front of her team with a wink and a smile—greatly emphasizing her chest size as well as her arm, forearm, and all the way down to her thigh and calf.

Weiss and Blake stared blankly at Yang, though they couldn't help but discreetly eye everything her pose emphasized—particularly her chest size. Yang noticed, however, resulting in her smile turning into a rather smug grin. Ruby, on the other hand, was simply impressed.

"I think you got slimmer, too, Yang," she said, carefully observing her big sister's body.

"You think so!?" she beamed, breaking from her pose to check herself out in front of the mirror. "Oh my god, you're right," she said in genuine surprise.

"What?" Weiss questioned, prompting her to stand from her seat to look at Yang more closely as well.

She noted that, compared to last week, her body lost a small but noticeable amount of flab from all the right parts, making Yang appear more toned and slimmer with her figure due to her more refined and tighter muscles.

 _"That much_ from just a week..? _"_ Weiss thought deeply in disbelief with a hand over her mouth, trying to understand how such a change could happen in such a short amount of time when all they did was get rid of their Aura during some of their spars and workouts. They hadn't even changed their diet as they still ate whatever they've been eating long before they started training under Tiella.

Blake got curious as well, walking up from behind Weiss to take a look at Yang and immediately she noticed what all the fuss was about.

"Perhaps I may not have to worry about bulking up after all?" Weiss muttered to herself, carefully weighing the pros and cons of going through her personal workout courtesy of Tiella. On one hand, it's _hell_ —plain and simple. The way she looked down and mocked not just her but all of them every time they made the simplest mistakes made her angry, which, in a way, served as a great motivator for her to do more for simply wanting to prove Tiella wrong.

On the other hand, the results are amazing. She even noticed Ruby losing a bit of her baby fat that she still had on her arms and belly in exchange for tighter muscles.

She stepped into the closet as well to stand beside Yang who was now curiously watching her strip her top off, leaving only her bra much like Yang. Months ago, she would've been ashamed of the act, but after losing a good amount of her privacy due to living with 3 other roommates—who were, luckily, all girls—she'd gotten used to it. Even the way Yang looked at her as if she was a tiny little treat.

She stuck her chest out and tucked her stomach in and looked at herself in the mirror, tilting her body from side to side before turning her back to squeeze her back and shoulders together as she placed both hands on her waist.

After a few more seconds of wordlessly looking herself over, it was a no-brainer to her. She nodded in satisfaction, completely decided that she will continue as she had been under Tiella, _hell_ and all.

"Amazing," she muttered, though still audible to everyone, "all that pain feels _so_ worth it after seeing this much progress in just a week."

She happily spun once on her toe in place, her hair twirling along with her, a proud smile on her face before it was quickly replaced by an expression mixed between disbelief and curiosity. "Why isn't this a thing?"

Curious, Blake asked, "What do you mean?"

"This." she gestured to herself and Yang, "No-Aura workout programs with visible _and_ positive results in just a week."

The three girls thought over the question, though the best they could do was speculate.

"I got nothing." Yang gave up, understandably.

"Maybe no one else tried it before?" Ruby hazarding a guess.

Blake simply remained silent, only shrugging with no answer.

"It doesn't matter, does it?" Yang said, "This just proves that whatever Celeste's making us do is super effective!" she grinned.

Remembering her short talk with Blake earlier, she smiled.

* * *

 _"So, I can understand why you'd want to compare yourself to her."_

 _Yang nodded, more to hear her out and less because she agreed with the statement, though she couldn't outright deny it._

 _"But you see, Yang, I'm not saying your worries are unfounded but hear me out."_

 _"Hm."_

 _"Whatever Tiella faced, she claims that it changed her. And there's nothing you, I, or anyone can do about that, so I believe that it is nothing but a pointless worry. The only thing we can do is not to take our tutelage under her for granted and prepare ourselves in the future."_

 _Yang looked back to Blake with a blank expression, carefully thinking over Blake's words._

 _"And I'd say that just the simple fact that you're not just going through everything with so much gusto like you usually do is a good thing. It goes to show that you're serious about being a huntress, too, despite acting so lackadaisical at times."_

 _"Are you calling me an idiot again?"_

 _"No, Yang." she smiled, "Quite the opposite, actually."_

* * *

"By the way," Weiss said, calling her teammates to attention, "preparations for the upcoming Vytal Festival is well on its way, or so I've heard."

"Oh! You're right! We should totally check it out!" Ruby beamed.

"I agree, Ruby." Weiss easily agreed, "Why don't we go into town today?" clasping her hands together with a tilt of her head with a smile. "We still have time, don't we?"

She didn't quite notice how her unusual eagerness surprised her teammates—nonetheless, they all agreed.

* * *

[I have a mission for you.]

"I thought I had until the end of the month?"

[There's been a change of plans.]

"Alright, fine. I've been getting bored of the peace here, anyway. What do you need me to do?"

[Keep an eye out for any suspicious movements in Southern Vale's port.]

"That's too vague for me."

[We believe that there will be White Fang movement within the next few days.]

"How likely?"

[We're almost sure.]

" _Almost_ , huh?"

[We have evidence that there will be movement, but we won't rule out the small possibility that we may be wrong.]

"And? You just want me to watch?"

[Report any findings no matter how trivial and I will direct you accordingly.]

"Okay, am I allowed to ask anything else about this mission?"

[Go ahead.]

"Why do you care?"

[...]

"You have a school to take care of, why not let the police handle it?"

[Because before I am a teacher, I am a huntsman—and it is my duty to protect the people.]

"From the Grimm, you mean."

[...]

"You said I could ask."

[...]

"Whatever, last two questions."

[Go ahead.]

"Permission to kill?"

[Denied.]

"Well, that just made this harder. Do you remember my rate?"

[50k Lien should you succeed. Half has already been deposited into your account.]

"If only all my clients are as quick to understand as you. I'll get ready now."

[Before you go, meet me here in my office. I have a few things that you'll need for this mission.]

"Alright."

Tiella disconnected from the call and pocketed her phone with a small sigh.

"Classic employers—knows my secrets but won't tell me theirs. Assholes." she nearly spat.

 _"Not like I don't have my own suspicions. I might know little about this world but I know a fucking snake when I see one, Ozpin."_

She walked back to her room while saying a quick ' _Hi'_ to Glynda and quickly changed her clothes. She did her hair from her usual twin braids to a low bun wrapped in two braids from the sides, held by bobby pins and a hair tie and brushing aside her fringes to reveal her right eye in full view while partially covering her left eyebrow.

She wrapped her chest with bandages to tuck her chest in a little bit more, giving the illusion of a smaller bust.

From the top to the bottom, she wore a big light brown mariner's cap for her head, a white sleeveless button-up blouse with a brown cardigan on top, and a gold scarf wrapped loosely on her shoulders. For pants, she wore a simple pair of light brown slim pants and a pair of black sandals.

For make-up, she made it light while putting a small bit of emphasis on her eyes and glimmering red lips. To top it all off, she wore oval-rimmed fake glasses.

She gave herself a once-over in front of the mirror and nodded in satisfaction at her work.

 _"With this, it shouldn't be too obvious who I am on the off chance someone from Beacon sees me in Vale."_

She wore a pair of black fingerless cloth gloves and pocketed her wallet with her. She took out a small trolley and stuffed a few days' worth of clothes in it—particularly the ones that Coco chose for her—and the glove Ruby made for her. When forced to give it a name (by Ruby), she decided to name it Pepper.

 _"Because these spicy falcon claws are gonna make poor saps howl when I grip their fucking balls."_ she chuckled at the memory, remembering the wry smiles from the girls.

She gave herself one last once-over in front of the mirror, _"Good thing I'm slim or else these guns would be hard to hide underneath all this clothing with my height."_ she thought, idly tensing the muscles in her arms and forearms.

She stepped out of the room and immediately she earned a wide-eyed, furrow-browed look of confusion from Glynda who was on the couch and in the middle of sipping her tea. Enjoying the reaction she received, she twirled in place.

"I'm Carmine DeWinter, tourist in Vale." she smiled with a tilt of her head while adjusting her glasses, less like the usual her smirk and more like a normal girl smiling and posing for the camera.

Glynda tilted her head, still confused, eyes squinting as she turned the gears in her head for a possible explanation for whatever Tiella was doing. Luckily for her, Tiella'd already had her fun.

"Ozpin's sending me on a mission."

Her confusion was immediately replaced with a serious expression. Placing her teacup on the coffee table with a soft clink, "I see. How long do you expect to be away?"

"A few days, maybe the entire weekend. Depends."

"I see." Glynda took her teacup again and sipped, "Good luck."

"Thanks." she smiled, walking towards the door. Though before she could reach for the knob, she heard Glynda call from behind.

"And Tiella?"

"Yeah- I mean, Yes?" she corrected, minding her way of speaking to stay in character of her disguise.

"You look quite nice."

She turned abruptly, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water while her cheeks slowly dyed itself red. She raised a finger to speak but could not immediately find words as she stuttered. Seeing as she'd become a stuttering mess, she turned to face the door again and looked to the ceiling.

"Y-You, too- I mean-!" she cleared her throat, oblivious to the amused look on Glynda's face, "T-Thanks," she said, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I-I'll be back in a few days."

Not bothering to wait for a reply, Tiella quickly exited their apartment and headed for Ozpin's office atop the grand clocktower.

"You look quite nice."

"Glynda already told me that."

"I'm sure she did."

"Do you have something else other than flattery for me?"

"Of course." Ozpin smiled wryly. He gestured to the top of his desk, revealing a small earpiece, a credit card, and her huntress license. "Here are the things you'll need."

"You think I'll need my huntress license? And took you long enough. You said I could get it early this week."

"Yes, well," clearing his throat, "with the _lack of information_ we have of you, I had some trouble making sure of its _authenticity_."

"Alright, alright." she said, putting the earpiece on her right ear, "Testing, testing," she said while pressing her finger on the earpiece, giving Ozpin a look to which she earned a simple nod. "Great. Anything else?"

"That should be all for now." he dismissed with a wave, "Though, do keep in mind that presenting your huntress license should make you privy to a few things that should make your mission easier."

"Ah, yes." she grinned, "I love abusing my authority, too." she saluted at Ozpin to bid him farewell, "Anyway, thanks. I'm off-" she cleared her throat, "Excuse me, I'll be taking my leave now, Headmaster." she said with a smile.

Ozpin raised a curious brow for a moment before he simply nodded with a smile.

On her way to the airship docks, she stole quite a bit of attention. Curious glances coming from both sides, she was having a little bit of difficulty in keeping up a girlier act as opposed to her usual tomboyish mannerisms.

 _"Maybe I should've looked for a hotel first before changing?"_

Even during the ride to Vale, she felt a few stares going her way which made it harder for her to relax, as it made her a little worried whether she would be easily found out since there weren't that many redheads in Beacon like her and Pyrrha.

She sighed, taking her scroll out to send a message, _"I better let the girls know that I won't be here until next week. Oh, and I guess Doctor, too."_

When her airship landed, she strolled near the docks to look for the nearest hotel in the area and booked for at least 3 days and 3 nights with the help of her scroll.

She checked the time, showing that it was only 4:39 pm. She stepped out of her hotel and casually walked towards the docks.

 _"Let's see what I can find."_

* * *

" _Oooooh!_ "

" _That_ " Yang pointed, "is just super weird."

"I know." Blake chimed.

Ruby didn't say anything, she preferred to simply smile at the sight.

"She's reminding me of the time I accompanied Ruby at a weapons convention— _goofy as hell_."

"What!?" Ruby exclaimed.

"But how can you not be excited?" Weiss turned with a smile, "It's the Vytal Festival! It's a festival dedicated to celebrating the various cultures of the world!" she exclaimed while animatedly waving her hands as she rambled, "There will be parades! Dances! Even a tournament!"

"A _tournament_ , Yang!" Weiss walked up to Yang and continued, "I can't believe _you're_ not excited about the tournament!"

"Well, that's because it wouldn't be here for a few more we-"

"Oh, and the amount of planning and organization that goes into this is simply breathtaking!" she turned and skipped, once more leading the way through nowhere in particular. "Vale, Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral… the four kingdoms coming together for a grand exhibition!" she said, clasping her hands.

"Wow."

"She's really passionate."

"Just like you with weapons but she's less annoying about it."

" _Heeey!_ " Ruby pouted, crossing her arms.

"And to top it all off, just the simple fact that even weeks before—or _months_ before, in some places—the actual festival could even begin, people are already clamoring about because of it! It brings so much life into the city!"

They continued their walk in more idle chatter—half Weiss glorifying the wonders of the Vytal Festival and half the other three commenting only to be ignored—when they stumbled upon a crime scene.

" _Another_ Dust robbery?"

"How many times does that make this month?"

"VPD's best and brightest doing their jobs right here, folks. _Bravo_."

A small crowd was heard gossiping while two crime operatives were at the scene. Ruby quickly jogged up to the investigators with her team closely following behind, minding not to cross the yellow tape.

"What happened here?" she asked.

One of the operatives paused his note-taking to look at her through barely hidden disdain. Wanting nothing more than to shoo away nosy passersby to continue his work, he clicked his tongue before speaking but was quickly interrupted by his partner at the scene.

"Huntresses at Beacon?"

"Y-Yes," Ruby answered, "we're Team RWBY, freshmen." gesturing at themselves.

"Hmm." he nodded, "Another Dust robbery—2nd place hit this week." he shook his head in disappointment, "They left all the money again, too."

"Huh?"

"This place is turning into a jungle." his partner chimed.

"Got any suspects?" Yang asked.

"We're thinking Torchwick."

"But it could be the White Fang, too." they both turned from the girls, "We have work to do, sorry but you're just gonna have to wait for the news if you want to know more."

"T-Thank you!" Ruby waved.

"What an apt description," Weiss spoke, her tone low, cold, and mocking.

"What do you mean?" Ruby questioned.

"The policeman said that this place is turning into a jungle." she said, full mockery in her tone, "With a bunch of _animals_ like the White Fang behind it, I'm saying that there's no other way it could be perfectly described."

"But you don't know that they're the ones behind this."

Weiss turned, squinting her eyes at the voice that argued. Yang tensed at the atmosphere their casual stroll had taken.

"That's true, Blake," she said, crossing her arms. "But it's not an impossibility. I'd wager that it's more probable in this case."

"Remember, Torchwick hasn't been caught, yet." Blake countered, "So there's an equally decent chance that he's the one behind these robberies."

"Perhaps." Weiss agreed, easing Yang's worries, though not for long. "But you also can't rule out those _degenerates_. It's a well-known fact that it's in the White Fang's modus operandi to target any such places that carry valuable resources like Dust shops."

Irked though not showing it, Blake took a step forward, "Coming to such a conclusion without actual proof is _simply the height of ignorance_."

"Excuse me?"

"And to call them degenerates?" she scoffed.

" _What_ , Blake?" taking a step forward as well. "Am I wrong?"

"You _are_." she glared.

" _Prove_ it." glaring back.

Ruby stepped in between them with a hand, "Uh, team? Let's calm down fi-"

"Hold!"

Startled by the voice, the four of them looked to the source where they found a ( _jacked_ ) monkey faunus with blonde hair (and a _six pack_ ) running from a pair of policemen.

"That faunus is a stowaway!"

"Sorry 'bout that!" the boy yelled back as he continued to run, "I just forgot my wallet, that's all!"

The four of them looked dumbfounded as they watched the scene unfold in front of them before Ruby shook her head and commanded, "This is no time to argue! We need to catch him!" prompting her team to action.

They all gave chase, closely following behind the boy but he was simply too good at running for them to catch up to.

Through normal means, at least.

"You girls keep going!" she said, pausing in her steps to take a runner's stance, earning nods from her teammates.

In a blink, rose petals appeared and swirled around her momentarily before she burst forward, leaving a trail of even more rose petals floating behind.

The boy looked behind him after hearing a sudden boom and was surprised to see a red streak already on his tail. "Whoah! Speedy!"

He took an abrupt turn, disappearing into the alley. Ruby gave further chase, grabbing the lamppost to help ease her sharp turn, giving herself another boost with her Speed only to bump hard into what felt like another metal pole.

"Ow!" she yelled, closing her eyes through the pain as she rubbed her head, "Why would anyone put a lamppost right next to another lamppost?"

" _Sal-u-tations!_ "

"What?" surprised, Ruby looked up from where she sat on the pavement.

"Are you alright?"

There she saw a cute girl with bob-cut ginger hair and freckles on her face stiffly reaching out to her with a hand. "Uh…"

"I'm really sorry for being bumped into by you! Are you well?"

"Oh!" she reached to accept the offered hand. Standing back up again, she dusted herself off. "I'm sorry! And I'm, um… I'm okay, thank you." she smiled.

"Hey, Ruby!"

"Hey, girls." she turned, seeing Weiss leading with Yang and Blake closely behind.

"Are you okay?" she asked, "What happened?"

"I'm fine but…" she smiled apologetically, "I lost him."

"I see." pursing her lips with a hand on her waist, "That's a shame."

"How wonderful!"

Surprised, the four girls looked to the ginger head girl with odd looks.

"To find a team from Beacon Academy today makes me so happy." she beamed. Taking hold of the hem of her skirt, she raised them slightly for a curtsy. "Hello, my name is Penny Polendina and I am a student from Atlas Academy." she raised her head soon after to flash them another smile, "Please, be my friend."

"Huh?"

"..."

"What?"

"Rubes, is this girl okay in the head?" Yang said, earning a light elbow from Blake to her side. "What?"

"Hello, please be my friend," she said, simply smiling again with a tilt of her head. "Would you be my friend?" she asked once more, tilting her head the opposite side.

"Ruby, what did you do to this girl?" Weiss whispered.

"I don't know! I just bumped into her but I'm the one that fell!" whispering back.

 _"If I agreed, would she be fun to bully like Weiss?"_ Yang grinned in thought.

"..."

Since Penny wasn't getting a response, she leaned her head closer to Ruby, "Please, be my friend." She pouted. "Is that not acceptable?"

Ruby smiled wryly while sweating bullets. She looked away and stuttered, "Uh… I-It's not that I _don't_ want to, it's just-" turning for help, she looked behind to her team, "A little help here, ple-"

Only to find no one there.

 _"Traitors!"_

"Wonderful!" Penny beamed, throwing her arms in the air in success, "I've made my first friend! And it is here in Vale!" she grabbed Ruby's shoulders and shook her excitedly, "Oh, it is _such_ a historical moment for me! We shall shop for clothes, stay up late, and talk about cute boys!" throwing her hands in the air abruptly once again, dropping Ruby to the ground.

"It's a shame that they are away, but I suppose they simply have other urgent business to attend to," Penny said, unaware of Ruby standing back up to dust herself off once again.

Ruby looked back to the alley where they came from in disappointment and sighed. Penny gasped, putting hands on her cheeks, "I forgot to ask your name, new friend! I'm terribly sorry!" she bowed deeply.

Ruby could only smile wryly at the act, "That's okay, Penny." she said, putting a reassuring hand on Penny's shoulder. "I'm Ruby." she smiled.

On a nearby street, the WBY of team RWBY were idly strolling away from the strange girl.

"Sorry, Ruby." Yang pleaded.

"It had to be done." Weiss nodded sagely before sighing. "Because of that strange girl, we lost track of that faunus." clicking her tongue in irritation, she continued, " _Typical degenerate_. Now that we lost him, I'm betting he's already run off to his other degenerate friends in the White Fang."

"Weiss," Yang called sternly with a sharp look, "watch what you say. You're throwing baseless accusations around."

"I'm simply making an educated guess," she replied, curtly. "Think about it. A faunus lawbreaker suddenly appearing near a crime scene which happened to be another Dust robbery. I don't know about you two, but that just screams White Fang modus operandi to me."

"And I'm saying that you don't have proof of that," Yang countered, nearly losing her patience. "Blake already told you that it isn't good to keep insinuating these things without actual proof."

"I'm not _wrong_ , Yang." she glared, " _I_ don't understand why _you're_ so adamant about defending the _scum of this planet_." she continued in her mocking tone, "After all, the White Fang is nothing but a _gang of delusional animals_. And whatever they're doing isn't helping their case at all."

Yang was nearly seething, fists curled tight. She was about to retort again but was quickly stopped by another voice speaking ahead of her.

"Just. _Stop._ "

Weiss turned around to see Blake glaring at her, the disdain in her eyes further confusing her. "Why should I? It's the truth!"

"How is it the truth!?" Blake stepped forward, "You don't _know_ the White Fang! You don't know _anyone_ in the White Fang!"

"I _don't_ know the White Fang!?" stepping forward as well, "I'm a _Schnee!_ If anything, I _know_ the White Fang more than anyone!"

"And it's _exactly_ this ignorance that I can't _stand!_ " Blake yelled. Unable to take any more of their argument, she turned around and stomped away.

" _Excuse me!?_ " she yelled, closely following behind Blake, "How _dare_ you turn your back to me while I'm talking to you—I'm your teammate!"

Yang stood in place, biting her lower lip in anxiousness. She took out her scroll and quickly made a call. After a few seconds of nothing but dial tones, the other end finally picked up.

"Ruby?

Yeah, I know, I know. I'm really sorry for leaving you but…

Okay, I promise I'll make up to you with your favorite brand of cookies but, Ruby,

Ruby, this is important, so I need you to hear me out." she said, hastening her walk to catch up to her other teammates.

"Weiss and Blake just continued their argument and now they're having a fight…

It's-... haaaa… It's complicated, Ruby…

Just- Just come back home, okay? We're already heading to the dorms.

Yeah, yeah, the dorms.

We'll meet you by the docks.

Okay.

Yeah.

Hurry up, okay? Take care."

Yang dropped the call, pocketing her scroll. She sighed once more and jogged to catch up. Her mind was in turmoil and her heart was beating fast, anxious about what could happen if she left the two alone for much longer.

 _"God damn it. I should've put more effort into getting more time for me and Blake to talk and now I think it's too late… I have a_ _ **really**_ _bad feeling about this."_

* * *

 _"Hmm… looks like they're both starting to unravel. Should be good. From what I got there, Weiss loathes the White Fang but doesn't hate faunus as a whole—just the lawbreakers. I suppose she'd learned to stereotype these people as White Fang supporters just because they're breaking the law no matter how petty."_

A tall girl with red hair under a mariner's cap could be seen hiding behind a building meters away from where the three girls were just moments ago. She adjusted her cap and carried on with her touring of Vale, idly looking from building to building as she took a lazy stroll's pace.

 _"Whatever. Not my business._

 _Because my business is the White Fang. Robbing Dust shops and leaving the money behind screams preparation for war. I don't know who this Torchwick guy is and even if I took him into account, it doesn't explain why he would need that much Dust. It's more likely that it really is the Fang behind the robberies._

 _Or they're in cahoots._

 _A lone thief robbing Dust shops while a criminal organization that operates in the same area is also infamous for doing the same. What a nice coincidence._

 _But why would they leave the money?_

 _A small mercy? Or is it because they have more than enough of it already? Taking into consideration that this has been happening for months, this could be big."_

* * *

 _Back in Team RWBY's dorm…_

"Just the mere _fact_ that you're judging him as a terrorist based _solely_ on his species—which, _by the way_ , wasn't his choice to be born into—makes you just as bad as what you've been labeling them as."

" _There you have it_ ," Weiss threw her hands in exaggeration at Blake while giving the worried Yang and Ruby a look, "she just admitted that the White Fang _is_ just a group of terrorists. _Congratulations_ ," she clapped mockingly, "you _just_ agreed with me."

"It must be _so_ nice to be _ignorant_ of the world with how easily you picked at my words."

"You're calling me _ignorant_ again?" she scoffed, "When you've provided _nothing_ new to the topic yourself that could possibly enlighten me? You and I both know I'm correct."

"And that's _exactly_ the _problem!_ "

"..."

"You're not just _ignorant_ , Weiss! You're _willfully ignorant!_ You've been denying _my_ arguments simply because you're _so_ convinced that everyone in the White Fang is just as bad as you imagine them to be!"

"Do you realize that you've been defending an organization whose sole goal is to _wipe humanity off the face of the world?_ I fail to see _why_ you don't think those degenerates are _pure and actual evil_."

"There's _no_ such extreme! There's _no_ such thing as _pure evil_ and there's no such thing as _pure good!_ What _are_ you, _3rd grade?_ _Why_ do you _think_ they hate humanity so much!?"

"You _dare_ call me a 3-"

"It's because of people like you… _racist, prejudiced, privileged_ people like _you_ that are to blame for their drastic actions!"

" _People like me!?_ "

" _You're discriminatory!_ "

A resounding slap echoed loudly in the room.

"What are you talking about…"

Blake grit her teeth through the pain and continued speaking with her head turned away from the blow. "You know _exactly_ what I'm talking a-"

"...those…"

"..?"

"...those _criminals_ have been attacking my family's company for _years_ , Blake." her voice came out soft and shaky as if an indication that she would break easily.

Ruby stepped close to Weiss, "Weiss…" placing a gentle hand on her shoulder that was harshly swatted away.

" _They've_ been attacking _my family_ for _years, Blake!_ They've _killed employees_ , _associates_ , and _family members, Blake!_

 _Friends! Blake! They've killed my friends!_

They've turned _hunting_ my family and I _into a sport!_

They've turned what was _supposed_ to be a happy childhood for me upside down… and you have… _and you have the_ _ **gall**_ _to blame_ _ **me...!?**_

 _I'M TO BLAME FOR THE DEATHS OF MY FRIENDS BECAUSE MURDERERS_ _ **HATE ME!?**_ "

" _..!_ "

" _ **THEY SHOULD'VE NEVER BEEN BORN!**_ "

A slap resounded loudly once more.

" _ **WE ONLY EVER WANTED TO BE TREATED EQUALLY!**_ "

"..."

"..."

"..."

"N-No..!" she quivered, looking at her trembling hands as tears slowly welled up in the corner of her eyes. "W-What have I-..."

"Bla-" Yang tried intercepting with a hand, blocking the way to the door to stop Blake from running away but when she saw the broken and fearful look on her partner's face, she was unable to move.

Blake lowered her head once more with a sniff and pushed past Yang's shoulder and ran out the door.

" _Blake!_ " Ruby called in vain with an outstretched hand.

* * *

So, she ran.

Out in the cold of the night where the lampposts kept the dark at bay.

There, where no one else was.

She cried silent tears away as she hid herself in the corner of the airship heading out for the city.

Her legs carried her far from her home. Her dorm. Was it her home? Wasn't it just a dorm? It was just a temporary living space for until she graduated. When did she ever start thinking of that small room as her home?

She didn't know. She never realized when it even happened. Was it truly home to her?

 _"Now… now they know. And soon, everyone will."_

Yes, it was.

Was.

If her aching heart was any indication, it definitely was.

She wandered the streets of Vale, aimlessly drifting from street to street and corner to corner—never realizing where she'd end up in.

She stumbled upon the Townsquare, where the statue of a huntsman and a huntress heroically stood over humanity's worst enemy, the Grimm.

Was it?

Was the Grimm truly humanity's worst enemy?

She wasn't quite sure.

What was she sure about, anyway?

 _"'What we're doing is right, Blake._ _ **We**_ _are_ _ **justice.**_ _'"_

 _"'I'm to blame for the deaths of my friends because murderers_ _ **hate me!?**_ _'"_

"This was all a mistake.

I should've…

I should've ran away when Tiella found out.

I…"

Tears welling in her eyes, she blinked, forcing them to stay hidden behind her eyes, to no avail. A droplet fell, racing down her fair cheek. One that she didn't bother to wipe away.

"I never should've come to Beacon."

"But that would mean I'd never meet you."

Blake quickly turned, surprised by a somewhat familiar voice that was suddenly behind her. She stared at the boy who she immediately realized as the stowaway faunus from before.

"..."

"Jumpy, aren't we?" he smirked.

"..."

"Not feeling like talking?"

"..."

"Not even a little bit?"

"..."

"Really?"

"..."

"Alright, I'm cool with that." he waved.

"..."

The faunus boy simply looked back at the girl in both amusement and bemusement. "Why don't you take that bow off?"

"..!"

"I'm sure it feels stuffy in there."

"..."

Blake remained silent, absentmindedly reaching for her bow with her eyes downcast. After a few seconds of deliberation, she took it off, sliding it away—freeing her ears after so long.

The boy smiled, "I knew you'd look better without the bow."

She stared blankly at the boy, unsure of what to say or feel. She wiped away the trail left by her tear.

* * *

A lone cloaked figure walked towards the large gate on the outskirts of Vale's city.

"Finally… Vale!"

The cloaked figure stretched their arms and back, revealing a sword and a shield hidden behind them.

"You're here, aren't you?" she took a picture of a 15-year-old schoolgirl posing together with a _much_ taller girl. "You better be or so help me I will flip this city upside down just to find you…"

* * *

AN: _Hello Again!_

 _Finally!?_

 _After 20 chapters!?_

 _We're finally near the end of Volume 1!?_

 _I know, I know. Took me long enough. Please don't smack my ass, I'm only into that for a select few people._

 _It's a little shorter compared to the past few chapters, but I feel that it's only fitting that I end this chapter here. Another reason for that is because I'm a little earlier this time! Yay!_

 _Again, do let me know your thoughts in the reviews, I'm always, always,_ _ **always**_ _eager and happy to read them._


	22. Chapter 22

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I've rewritten the last fight scene because I felt that it was over far too quickly. Other than that, not much has changed._

* * *

"Damn it."

Yang sighed, pocketing her phone for the umpteenth time within the last hour. She'd been trying to get in touch with Blake for the last two days and so far, there'd been no luck. All her messages remained unanswered and all her calls ignored.

Earlier this morning, they all woke up in their usual time to prepare for their early run. They received a message from Tiella a few days ago that she'd be away for the next few days and that she didn't know when she'd be back, only that she'd be away until next week but they were reminded that even with her absence, they shouldn't skip out on the morning runs.

So, they got up, changed, and walked to their starting point where Velvet was already waiting for them—all the while carrying the despondency from the night Blake left.

Velvet noticed the awkward tension in the air but chose to ignore it as she felt it wasn't something she should be meddling in unless asked to. After their rather awkward and silent run, they showered and quietly returned to their dorm. Yang was anxiously waiting in her bunk for something— _anything_ —to happen.

She jumped down from her bed and opened their sole window for her to sit on its ledge—earning a few nervous looks from Ruby and Weiss but quickly they sighed in relief when their worry didn't happen.

Yang let the cool morning breeze in, gently blowing on her hair as it swayed into the room. Her eyes absentmindedly darted from place to place on the school grounds, searching for any signs of something or someone to make an appearance.

She took out her scroll to check for notifications and sighed in disappointment when she saw that there were none even if she had expected it. She held her phone in her hand as she let her eyes wander around again, hoping against hope to find who she'd been looking for.

She stayed there for the next hour until Ruby softly called her from her bunk, to which she only gave a passing glance before returning her gaze outside.

"What's up, Rubes?" she responded, a very clear lack of energy apparent in her voice.

Ruby's heart ached a little after hearing such a voice coming from her usually so exuberant elder sister. She gave Weiss a quick glance, noting that she was trying to busy herself with their homework quietly on her usual seat by the desk. She looked back to Yang when she realized that her partner wasn't actually particularly busy.

"Why don't we go look for Blake?" she asked after jumping down to the floor.

Yang turned her head and gave Ruby a blank stare, unsure of how to respond. "I dunno, sis… maybe she needs more time," she said, checking her scroll again for god knows how many times already.

"But what if she's lonely? Shouldn't we be there for her as her friends? As your partner?"

Yang stayed silent as she contemplated Ruby's words. She'd thought of going out and searching for Blake herself, of course. She wanted nothing more than to just go into town and look for Blake herself, but a part of her wanted to give her the time she needed to sort things out—especially after seeing what Blake looked like before she ran out the door.

Earning no response, Ruby turned to Weiss as she continued, "I believe that we should sit down and talk—don't you think so, Weiss?"

"I've said my piece," Weiss responded curtly without giving her partner and leader a look.

"But Blake hasn't said hers. Don't you think it's only fair that we hear her out, too?"

"What makes you think she's going to tell us the truth?" she asked, finally turning to face Ruby with a doubtful look.

"Because she was only hiding her secret all this time." she replied softly with a smile, "I don't believe she's ever lied to us in all the times we've spent with her—and I believe that we all have a right to have our own secrets."

Weiss looked away with pursed lips. She couldn't outright deny Ruby's point, as much as she questioned everything about her questionable teammate.

"Only if it doesn't break the law, Ruby."

Yang shot Weiss daggers, clenched teeth almost grinding as she tried to hold back her words. Luckily for her, Ruby responded.

"But we don't know that yet, do we? And the only way to know the answers to our questions is to ask Blake herself, right?"

Weiss stayed silent, weighing her words in her head. After a few moments of nobody talking, she heard a soft thud from across the room. Looking to the source, she found Yang standing in the middle of the room while giving her a glare.

"If you don't wanna help search for _my_ partner, then you don't have to." she voiced, her tone cold while her eyes seethed red. She passed Ruby and walked out the door after adjusting Ember Celica. "Let's go, Ruby."

"I'll be with you in a minute, Yang—meet you downstairs." she smiled.

Yang paused by the door and looked to her through the corner of her eye. She gave Weiss a quick look before returning to Ruby with a small nod. Ruby nodded in kind, prompting Yang to go and wait for her downstairs.

Weiss saw the look of indignation from Yang but unlike the time before, she didn't feel the need to back down, so she simply glared back until Yang disappeared into the hallway. She looked to Ruby who was giving her a soft and knowing look.

"Do you hate Blake?"

Surprised by the question, Weiss stared at Ruby, unsure of how to answer. Did she hate Blake? She wasn't quite sure. Looking back on all her interactions with her, she found that in a lot of them, she was frankly, quite annoyed with her—how she would also join in on the teasing and/or bullying of her. Though on others, she found a kindred spirit in her—they like both liked books and oftentimes, she liked hearing Blake's quick-witted responses to Yang's jokes and sarcasm.

"I don't know."

Ruby smiled, taking a few steps closer towards her. "Don't you want to know?"

Weiss was, again, confused by her partner's question. Did she want to know? A part of her was anxious about wanting to know and would love nothing more than to just not bother with it any longer. But another part of her was curious as well. Didn't she think of Blake as one of her treasured friends back when she was speaking to Tiella about her problem?

She sent her eyes down to the floor as she wondered, over the question once more.

 _"Do I want to know?"_

The question reminded her that, even though Ruby was younger than her, she often found solace in her presence. Even though she knew more than her when it came to their academics. Even though she was supposed to be her senior in life by two years. She remembered that what she liked the most about Ruby was that she was genuine in nearly everything she did—and how she knew to ask the right questions at the right times.

Uneasily, she stood from her seat and walked to Ruby without taking her eyes off the floor. She anxiously played with her fingers before glancing up to Ruby and once again looking away.

"I…" she cleared her throat, "I don't know what to think of Blake, at the moment. I don't know if I _do_ hate her or not—so, I am reluctant to see her right now."

Ruby smiled, a little disappointed in her partner's answer. She was about to question her again but was quickly stopped as Weiss had more to say.

"But…" she continued, looking to stare back into a pair of silver. "...if you order it so, then as subordinate and partner to you, I wouldn't mind aiding in the search for Blake."

Ruby smiled wide, almost unable to stop herself from chuckling, "Weiss," she said, taking her partner's hands into her own, "be honest."

"What?"

Ruby grinned wider while playfully pulling on Weiss' hands, "You want to find Blake, too, don't you?"

"I-I do _no-_ "

"You _don't?_ "

Pursing her lips, she looked back at a pair of teasing eyes and a smug grin. She pouted and looked away—and with a soft voice, "...you're unfair, Ruby Rose."

"Hehe…"

Not long after, they met up with Yang who'd been patiently waiting for Ruby, so when she saw Weiss walking closely behind her sister, she raised a surprised brow but immediately looked away with a determined expression.

"What changed your mind?"

Weiss glanced at Yang before sending her eyes down momentarily. She raised her head and looked ahead, following Ruby who was leading the way to the airship docks. "I don't know anything about Blake. So… I want answers."

Yang gave her a quick glance before looking forward again.

"If she answers honestly, only then will I decide what to think of her."

"And if she lies?"

"Then that just means that I was right all along."

* * *

"Why do you want to know about me so much? For a pick-up artist, you're _very_ persistent and _incredibly_ annoying. I'm almost flattered that you'd go 2 days straight just to get a word out of me."

"Whoah, there! I'm no pick-up artist! I'm just genuinely curious, that's all!"

"If you don't leave, I will hand you over to the police myself."

"Leeeet's not do that, please—my teammates will kill me."

"I'm sure the police would be pleased when they catch the stowaway from 2 days ago."

"Uh… you're not really kidding, are you?"

Blake sighed, "Just be honest with me."

Blake and the faunus boy from before were sitting at a table in a cafe. Blake had tea while the faunus boy had coffee with cream. For two days, the monkey faunus stuck close to Blake—persistently keeping her company despite her unwillingness to be with him. He'd visit her in her room at the inn she stayed in and after the first day, Blake had the staff ban him from entering her room for as long as she was there.

Come day 2, however, he still appeared before her.

By her room's window.

Knocking on the window pane and hanging onto a ledge.

At that point, Blake had had enough of him and decided to call security. As she reached for the telephone provided in her room, she paused to think. Looking back at the boy who was giving her a goofy smile as he continued hanging onto the ledge with ease, he decided that, creepy as he was acting, making a fuss and bothering the staff over him just wasn't worth it.

Instead, what Blake did was exit the building to take a walk and ease her mind—which only did the opposite since the boy simply followed and pestered her, much to her dismay.

With what little patience she had left in her, she calmed herself and decided to take the most rational approach she could think of in her agitated state of mind.

So, she invited him to a drink and have a nice little chat.

Or at least, about as nice as she could at the moment.

Glaring viciously, she threatened, "If I find out that you're hoping to get laid because of a _**dare**_ , _I swear to_ _ **Oum**_ , I will _kick_ you in the balls _SO_ hard I will make a _vag-_ "

" _YOU'VE-_ " he yelled and leaned closer, protectively covering his dearly beloveds with his hands, "-made your point." he smiled and chuckled nervously.

She leaned back on her chair and sipped, never letting up on glaring daggers at him. "Speak."

"I just-" he started, earning a subtly raised brow from her, "-just, _y'know-_ " stuttering, he waved his hands animatedly in front of her before taking a deep breath to pause and start over. He scratched the back of his head and looked away in shyness while muttering,

"You just sorta looked pretty sad that night and I just couldn't leave you alone." huffing air to blow on his fringes while leaning his head atop his hand with his elbow on the table.

Her brow raised further, genuinely surprised at the answer. It didn't _look_ like he was just acting, at least, to her. After a few more seconds of silently observing the boy who was pointedly _avoiding_ eye contact with her, she noticed slight flushing in his cheeks—likely due to embarrassment after admitting the fact.

She laughed softly, catching the boy's attention which in turn, made him laugh as well, though a little shyly.

"What's your name?" she asked after a sip.

"Sun Wukong," he answered, taking his cup of coffee using his tail. "You can just call me Sun." he smiled.

"Blake," she replied, lowering her teacup to the table. "Blake Belladonna."

"Blake?" he repeated, "Weird name," he said offhandedly, earning sharp glares from her once more. "N-Not that it's _bad_ ," he said, raising his arms in front of him defensively to try and placate her, "I just don't hear it being used on girls much, y'know?"

She pursed her lips with an eye roll, crossing her arms as she tried relaxing back on her chair.

They stayed silent for the next few minutes with Blake contentedly sipping on her tea as she thought on what to do next while Sun throwing not-so-sneaky glances at her while casually drinking his coffee.

Blake looked outside the cafe, deciding to simply people-watch for the moment and more often than not, she found herself idly observing her _brothers_ and _sisters_ as a fellow faunus herself. She thought back on her days with the White Fang and for the most part, she never regretted joining and fighting alongside them.

As harrowing as the near lack of support and absence of actual progress was, she bonded with her brothers and sisters there as she grew up, believing that she was fighting for what was truly right and just for her people.

And after suffering under years of discrimination and oppression, the old leader gave up and stepped down—replaced by a more ruthless, uncompromising one.

Tactics were changed, taking their peaceful protests and rallies to more violent approaches and even outright plunder—uncaring of any casualties dealt on the other side but critical when it came to theirs. At first, Blake was apprehensive of the idea of harming people just to get her way, but when it immediately provided results, she was ecstatic—though, it wasn't for long.

After spending a few years under the new leadership, she found that she could no longer stomach using her skills to aid in their violence.

Instead, she decided to turn over a new leaf—a blank slate where she could figure out what and how she wanted to provide for her people. Her best idea at the time was to become a huntress, seeing as the profession garnered much respect from all sides in the general public. Faunus discrimination was still there, of course, but it wasn't as bad compared to those who were not in the same profession.

She looked back to Sun who was holding his empty cup upside down with his tail. She sighed, placed her teacup back on the table, and left money pinned underneath the saucer. She put her hands on the edge of the table and stood, giving Sun a small smile.

"Thank you for your concern, Sun, but I'm okay now and I have something I need to do—so I'll be taking my leave," she said, quickly walking away from her table.

Sun immediately stood to follow, "Mind if I join you?" he asked with a grin.

Blake gave him a blank look to which he only answered with an even wider grin.

"Just don't get in my way," she said with an exasperated shake of her head.

Sun quickly walked beside her to match her pace. He put his hands behind his head, "So, whatchu planning to do?"

"I'm planning to check for any possible points of robberies within the near future. I want to check on something."

"Yeah? What for?"

"I want to know if the White Fang is actually behind these robberies or not."

"Gonna try catching them by yourself? Wouldn't that be too much for you alone? Good thing you have me, right?" he smirked.

Blake, again, gave him a blank look before lightly shaking her head, "That depends on whether they'll be truly there or not."

"Have any places in mind, then?"

"I'll be investigating possible points of interests first."

"So you have no idea, then."

"..."

"Am I right?"

"Please, keep quiet if you don't have anything useful to provide."

"Ah, but I _do_." he teased with a wiggle of his brows.

Blake stopped in her steps and placed her hands on her waist, intensifying the blank stare she'd been giving Sun the whole time.

Sun grinned, happy to find that Blake was willing to humor him for at least five seconds, "See, when I was on the ship, I overheard some guys talking about unloading a _huge_ shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas."

"You're sure of this?" she asked, quickly changing to a more interested expression from her unamused stare.

"Totes." he nodded.

"And if it's coming from Atlas… then…" she thought quickly with a hand on her chin.

They looked to each, ""It'll be from the Schnee Dust Company.""

Blake walked forward, continuing her thought, "and if it's from the SDC, then it won't be an exaggeration to say that it would indeed be huge."

"The guys said it'll be a whole Schnee freighter," he said, quickly following up.

"Then it would be the biggest, juiciest bait for our serial Dust robber," she said with a determined look on her face. "Thank you, Sun." she smiled, her first genuine one since they met.

The smile caught him off guard, feeling a slight skip in his heart.

Immediately she walked towards the port, closely followed by Sun from beside her. On the way, Sun wondered…

"Do your friends know about what you're planning to do?"

* * *

Out near the port, a tourist in a red sleeveless parka was taking a casual stroll—excitedly taking selfies with her scroll using the ships and the sea as the background while holding a large plastic cup of coffee in hand with a straw on it.

"What a lovely place," she said to herself, more to catch other people's attention than simply to have a conversation with herself.

She walked towards a group of four fishermen with a demure smile on her face. The man, after seeing the tall beauty walking towards him and his friends, immediately called the attention of his friends with a whistle.

"Excuse me!" she called with a small wave, "Can you help me take a photo with the sea and the ships as my background?" she smiled with a tilt of her head. "I tried taking some myself but I couldn't take anything I could get satisfied with."

She purposefully opened her eyes a little bigger than her usual slits to make them appear cuter to properly pair them with her fake glasses and demure smile.

The man, who was just half a head smaller than her, stared in a daze, surprised by how tall the cool beauty in front of him was.

After receiving no immediate response, she asked again after tilting her head the other side, "I'm sorry, am I bothering you?"

Snapping out of his reverie, "N-No way, lassie!" he chuckled, earning a few laughs from his friends that were standing just behind him. "I'd be happy to help ya out."

"Thank you so much!" she beamed, clasping her hands together in front of her. "In that case, do you mind staying a few steps away so I could be within the middle ground of the photo?"

"S-Sure!"

She smiled gratefully and happily walked to her spot which was just near the edge of the sidewalks of the port—her background the sea and the ships, just as she wanted. She leaned her upper body forward and a little to the side while holding her cup close to her, flashing a peace sign, and beaming a big toothy smile for the camera.

"Let me know when you've taken it!"

"Awright, say 'cheese!'"

" _Cheese!_ "

After a second or two, the photo was taken and the fisherman walked to the girl to show her the shot.

"Oh my!" she gasped, "It's a beautiful shot." she gave him a grateful smile, "Thank you so much!" she said, with a bow.

"N-" he cleared his throat, "It's no problem, lassie. There anythin' else I can help ya with?"

"Umm…" she thought with a tilt of her head and a finger on her cheek, "...I'm actually waiting for my faunus friend to show up. I was supposed to meet him here about 15 minutes ago but he hasn't shown up."

"That's awful, makin' a cute lassie like you wait that long here in the stinkin' port!"

"Oh, please, no!" waving her hands defensively, "He's not a bad person," she smiled, "and I like it here. The place is nice and the air feels fresh."

"Weeell, if ya say so." he said, "I 'aven't really seen any faunus boys pass by here recently, but I did seen a few of 'em walking around right o'er there this mornin'." pointing towards the container port.

"I see," she said, eyeing the place with a curious look, "thank you very much, once again. I'll go take a look for him there." she smiled.

"Ah, one more thing, lassie." he leaned, covering his mouth from the side to whisper, "Be careful 'round those parts—rumors goin' on 'bout that place bein' a White Fang meetin' spot on some days. Since yer friend's a faunus, ya might get a little less attention but that's only if ya can meet up with yer friend there. Ya never know when those animals are up to somethin'."

"I see," she nodded with a hand on her chin, "thank you for the advice. I'll be sure to pay close attention to my surroundings!" she said with a quick bow before casually walking towards the container port.

"Awright, take care now!"

Once she was a few meters away, she took a turn behind one of the warehouses and sent the photos to Ozpin. Her expression returned to her usual stoic and sharp glare before reaching a finger to her ear. She clicked her earpiece and spoke in a whisper.

"Got them yet?"

[I have, good work. Now, what can you make of this?]

"A local told me that this place has a few Faunus coming and going and that rumors says that it's a White Fang meeting spot on some days. The local also told me that he saw a few faunus already just earlier today."

[It seems that your guess is sounding more plausible.]

"I just need a bit more proof… but something's bothering me."

[What is it?]

"The local said that he'd seen some faunus already coming here just this morning," she said, hugging a wall to take a peek at a warehouse.

[You fear that they'll be moving today?]

"Yeah," she hid behind the wall as soon as she saw a faunus come out of the warehouse and spoke in an even more hushed voice, "but hold that thought, I need to move away. These guys might smell me from where I'm at."

[Very well.]

"I'll be back when I have more info."

She quickly but quietly moved away from her spot into a more open area with more people in it. She wore her 'tourist' face once more and casually strolled away.

 _"It's like they're not even bothering to be discreet if even the locals became familiar with their routine. These guys suck so bad they make me look good with info gathering. This shit is more Lilly's forte, not mine. Whatever, I'll just check the newspaper while I take a break in a cafe—see if I can find anything noteworthy."_

During her walk to a nearby cafe, she found an unusual but familiar pair walking towards the place she came from.

 _"Was that Blake and the faunus punk from before? What the hell? Where's her team? And why the fuck is she with that guy?"_

She quickly called Ozpin after entering an alley and making sure that there was no one else but her nearby, "Ozpin, why is Blake in Vale?"

[From what I gathered, she ran away after a fight with Ms. Schnee in their dorm 2 nights ago. It seems that the topic of their argument was about the White Fang.]

"Is that right?" she said, casually glancing at the pair from the corner of her eye after exiting the alley. "Tell me more about Blake."

[Is this related to your mission?]

"I'm not sure yet—but she's going to the port with a monkey faunus."

[In that case, let me get a new batch of coffee—it'll only take a minute.]

She closed her eyes tightly and she could almost _feel_ her optic nerves snap at the sheer force of her eye roll as she bit her pursed lips, taking deep breaths to calm herself. She turned her earpiece off for a quick second and just ran her hands over her face, taking her glasses off in the process.

With one final deep inhale, she muttered while slowly exhaling, "This is my life now." before fixing herself and contacting Ozpin again.

[Thank you for waiting.]

"Ozpin."

[Yes?]

"I hate you so much."

* * *

" _Blaaake!_ "

" _Blaaake!_ "

" _Blaaake!_ Where are _yooouuuu!?_ "

" _Blaaake!_ "

After a few bouts of shouting, Ruby turned to Weiss who'd been quiet the whole time. "Weiss?" she called, "Any ideas?"

Weiss looked to Ruby blankly, before crossing her arms and looking away. "We could always ask for help from the police."

Ruby pouted and sighed, looking ahead of her way once more. Yang glanced at Weiss discreetly and sighed, "Weiss, are you actually willing to help?"

She scoffed. "Of course I am."

"Really? Because staying quiet makes me think you don't really care."

"I think that once we find her, she'd simply prove me right again."

"And I think Weiss' hair looks _wonderful_ today!"

"GAAAHH! PENNY!" they all turned with Ruby screaming, "When did you get here!?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you all again today!" she waved, "May I join you today, friend Ruby?"

Ruby looked to her teammates with a questioning look, "Well…"

"We're looking for Blake." Yang immediately answered.

"Oh!" she nodded in recognition, "You mean the faunus girl."

"How did you know!?" Yang asked in a panic.

"The cat ears?" she answered unperturbed, pointing to the top of her head.

"But Blake wears a… _bow…_ " Ruby wondered.

There were a few seconds of silent realization that transpired between them before Ruby muttered to her team. "She does like tuna a lot…"

"Do you not know where she is?" Penny asked.

"No," Ruby smiled sadly, "she's been missing since Friday."

Penny gasped, clutching Ruby by the shoulders, "That's _terrible!_ " she exclaimed. Backing off, she put her hands on her waist, "Don't worry, friend Ruby! I won't rest until we find your teammate!"

"Uh… well… t-that's really, um, nice of you," Ruby nodded, "Penny, but- uh… we're okay!" looking past Penny to where her other teammates were, "Right, guys?"

Only to find no one there.

Again.

 _"They left me again!"_

"I suppose they're eager to find Blake," Penny said while looking around. "We should also do the same and quickly find her!"

* * *

Exiting a bookstore that they knew Blake to frequent, Yang waved the staff members farewell after finding no answers.

"Thanks, anyways!"

Weiss wordlessly exited as well as she kept her eyes on the ground while in deep thought.

Yang clicked her tongue in irritation with a sigh, "Damn it."

 _"What would I do if she lies?"_

Yang shot Weiss an irked glance before leading the way.

"Weiss," she called without looking back, "be honest with me."

Weiss remained silent, simply looking at the back of her teammate as she closely followed behind.

"Do you _actually_ care about Blake right now?"

"I already said that I do," she replied curtly while walking ahead of Yang. "I'm just afraid of what she'll say when we find her." she gave Yang a passing glance before continuing forward, "The innocent never run, Yang."

Yang's eyes briefly turned red, her rage slowly whittling at her patience. "I'd run, too, if all the judge, jury, and executioner ever had for me were baseless accusations that they're convinced of from the start."

Weiss gave her an incredulous glare, nonetheless, Yang continued unperturbed. "Believe me when I say, Weiss, that I'd want nothing more than to just _sock_ you in the face right now-"

"Go ahead, I'm not scared of you!"

"-but right now, I'm more worried about Blake—and doing just that would be nothing more than instant self-gratification."

"Hmph."

"You're still not willing to hear her out." she continued. "I thought you were better than that."

They continued their walk in silence, an awkward tension keeping them from looking at each other along the way.

"When that strange girl mentioned that Blake was a faunus girl with cat ears, you looked like you were more surprised because she _knew_ — _not_ because Blake _is_ indeed a faunus like she so heavily implied that night."

Yang answered without looking, much like Weiss did with her, "I found out a week ago when Celeste just calmed down after her episode."

Catching Weiss' interest, she gave Yang a look from the corner of her eye as she listened intently.

"After catching up to you and Ruby, I noticed that both of them weren't behind us, so I went back. Then, I saw Celeste holding Blake's ribbon in her hand and that Blake was acting so terrified because she'd been found out. She was even posed to jump at her—I've never seen her acting so scared in all my time with her."

Yang gave Weiss a passing glance, taking note of the solemn look on her face as she continued, "I didn't hear anything, but it looked like Celeste made a promise to her, probably to keep her secret, too, or something."

Weiss turned pensive as she thought things over again in her mind.

"I wanted to have a talk with her this past week, but school's been pretty hectic, so I didn't have the chance. Now… Right now, I just hope she's okay—wherever she is."

Yang gave Weiss one last blank look before walking ahead of Weiss, "I don't know about you, Weiss, but faunus or not, Blake's my friend—and no amount of dark, hidden secrets she has will ever change my mind about it."

* * *

"Excuse me! Have you seen the lady in this picture?"

"Hey, old man! See this girl around?"

"Excuse me! Have you seen the lady in this picture?"

"Hey, lady! See this girl or not? Wai- Goddamnit, I'm not done talking to you!"

"Eep!"

"What the hell are you doing grabbing people like that out of nowhere! Do you _want_ to get arrested!?"

"They keep ignoring us!"

"That's because you're scaring them!"

"Not my fault they're all fucking pussies." he spat.

"What if you just let me do all the talking from now on? You just go ahead and wait at our inn?"

"Fine, whatever," he said, grumpily walking away with both hands in his pockets.

"I'll let you know as soon as I pick something up!" she waved.

She turned around and sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "Finally, I can work in peace."

She held the photo up to look at it again before walking around once more. Her purple eyes dimly lit up as she channeled more energy into them. As soon as she was ready, she walked up to another stranger, but instead of calling their attention like she'd been doing earlier, she simply held the picture in front of them while she intently studied their expressions.

Her intention was to read people's facial expressions when showed the picture and that the expression she was looking for was one of 'recognition'. If she read 'recognition' on a person's face instead of simple 'confusion', then she would ask questions—if not, then she would simply walk away and switch to another stranger.

And since she only needed less than a second to read someone's reaction, it was faster and easier for her to get by.

About a few dozen or so strangers later with zero results, she felt hungry as she'd had little to eat for breakfast and lunch—and seeing that it was dusk already, she decided to eat her fill. She found a nearby pizza place called Mama Jane's and easily entered the said establishment.

She took an empty seat on a small table for two and waited for her waiter.

 _"Does that make me the waiter right now?"_

"Welcome to Mama Jane's, ma'am! Here is our menu." a waitress said, offering said menu to her for her to peruse. "Let me know when you've decided, ma'am." she smiled.

"Thank you," she said, smiling back to her waitress. "I'm a little short on cash right now, so what do you recommend is good and cheap?"

"In that case, I recommend the Super Saver meals in this section here." she said, going through the pages of the menu before stopping at the right page, "Meals A, B, and C" she gestured with her hand, "are our most affordable meals."

She quickly eyed her options, weighing her choices between meals and prices before finally coming to a decision. "I'll have Meal A, please."

The waitress took note of her order, writing it down while asking further, "Which drink would you like, ma'am?"

"I'll just have a cold glass of water, thank you." her waitress nodded, "Oh, and, can I have it immediately? I'm a little parched."

"Yes, ma'am." she smiled, "Just to make sure, ma'am, your order is one Meal A with a cold glass of water."

"That's right."

"Would it be for here or to go?"

"I'll have it here, thank you."

"Thank you, ma'am. I'll be back with your glass immediately!" she bowed before leaving.

While waiting, she looked out the window and curiously eyed the passersby—particularly the faunus people in general.

 _"I still can't get over it! Animal-people! Catgirls! Dog girls! Deer girls! They all look so cute and cuddly—it's a paradise!"_

Hearing footsteps coming close, she looked to the source to find her waitress walking to her with a cold glass of water on a tray. She gently placed the glass on her table, "Here you go, ma'am." before quickly leaving.

But before the waitress could move any further, "Excuse me," she called.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Have you seen this lady before?" she asked, showing the waitress a picture of a schoolgirl posing next to a tall girl with red hair and a leather jacket.

"If it's the tall girl you mean, ma'am, then yes, we've had her here about a week ago."

Excitedly, she stood from her seat while slamming her palms on the table, " _Really!?_ "

"Y-Yes, ma'am." the waitress said, slowly recovering from her mild surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she said, apologizing while sitting back down, "Are you sure it was her? Was she with anyone? Can you tell me anything about her?"

"Yes, ma'am." she nodded, holding her tray close to her chest while recounting, "She was wearing the same exact clothes she had on that photo when she came in here, and she was with Professor Ozpin."

"Professor Ozpin?"

"Yes, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"I see…" she nodded with a quick side glance, "what was she like?"

"Well…" she scratched her cheek, "she was a little scary at first… scary enough for a lot of our customers and staff members as soon as she came in. Apparently, she was angry with Professor Ozpin, but as soon as they finished eating, she quickly called for the waitress she scared off to apologize and left a large tip before leaving."

"An angry Tielle scaring people off… that does sound like her…" she muttered, earning a curious head tilt from her waitress, "Sorry, it's nothing." she waved, "is that waitress she scared off here today?"

"No ma'am, she's off for today but may I know why you're looking for her?"

"The tall girl is a dear friend and I've been looking for her—we're from the same huntsman team with another guy."

"I see!" she nodded, "Well, there isn't really much to say after she left," she said with a slight blush on her cheek, remembering the charming effect she had that day.

"I see, I see. Can you tell me where Beacon Academy is?" she grinned after reading the waitress' expression.

"It's an airship away from here, ma'am." she said, pointing out the store, "Take a left once outside this store and follow the main road for a few minutes on foot, you'll see an airship terminal nearby—it should take you to Beacon Academy."

"Thank you so much!" she said, clasping the waitress's hand in her own, "We've been searching for her for two weeks now!" she exclaimed, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"I-I'm glad to be of service, ma'am."

She quickly let go of the waitress's hand and wiped her tears with her thumb while the waitress went on with her work. After eating, she immediately stepped out of the store and ran back to their inn.

* * *

"So… Blake is your friend?"

"Yes, Penny."

"But you're… _mad_ at her?"

"Ye- No, well… _Weiss_ is, not me."

"Is _she_ friends with Blake?"

"She is, too… but…" she sighed, "...it's a little complicated."

"But why?"

"Well, you see… Blake might not be who we thought she was."

Gasping, "Is she a _man?_ "

Ruby chuckled, "No, Penny—but we're all just confused right now and… she didn't really explain herself before she ran away." she said morosely.

Pensively, Penny sent her eyes down as she spoke, "I don't have a lot of friends—in fact… you're my only friend, friend Ruby." she smiled, "So… I would be happy if you would talk to me about things… and I hope Blake does the same with you, too."

Ruby smiled sadly, "Me, too."

* * *

 _On the west side of Vale…_

 _"Where was the inn again?"_

The grumpy and scary boy from before was walking the winding, intersecting streets of Vale amidst the crowd. He wore a tattered plain black T that barely fit his muscular figure. He also wore simple camouflage-patterned cargo pants.

Unsure of which turn he was supposed to take, he simply followed his instincts and he found himself lead astray.

 _"Damn, I forgot the name, too."_

While walking forward with absolutely no idea where to go, he heard a shriek from a nearby alley behind him. Curiously, he walked back and searched for the source and immediately, he found three boys surrounding a small dog girl threateningly.

 _"That's one of those animal-people. What did Lilly say to call them again? Faunus?"_

The three boys noticed his shadow looming over them, so slowly, they turned to face him. One of them held a knife against him and threatened with a smirk.

"Just walk away, pal. You didn't see anything here."

Two of the boys went back to pulling on the girl's clothes while the other one remained eyeing him. Lazily, he walked towards them and asked while cracking his knuckles.

"Hey, are you strong?"

"What? Wanna play hero and take us all on?"

"Nah." he grinned, a mad show of teeth and fangs bared in front of the three. "Just looking for a good fight."

His muscles seemed to explode and his veins popped up prominently. When he was only four feet away, the three boys saw that he stood a few centimeters taller than them, and with the light from the city behind him, he certainly gave off an intimidating aura.

He bumped his fist into his palm and the impact was strong enough to send shockwaves through the air—rattling nearby scattered bottles and cans and blowing a few pieces of paper away.

The three boys reflexively enhanced themselves with their Aura further after they were slightly pushed back. What looked to be the leader of the trio slowly walked up to him as well while idly tossing and flipping his knife from hand to hand.

"Aren't you pretty fucking stu-"

He didn't have the time to finish his words as he was immediately implanted to the side of a large metal garbage bin. Surprised, the two boys became alert, looking back and forth between him and their friend who was now unconscious while drooling.

He had his fist outstretched in front of him and because he ran out of patience, he ran up to the remaining two with a wider grin. No more than twenty seconds later, he came out of the alley while dusting his hands together.

 _"Boring… I thought these Aura dudes were gonna be better than that. Tiella doesn't have Aura and she could probably beat those losers with both hands tied to her back."_

He stretched his neck and caused a few popping sounds while going back to the main road. He left the other boys right next to the first guy. Not a second later, the small dog girl came running out while fixing her disheveled clothes.

"E-Excuse me, mister! Hey, mister!"

Completely unaware, he kept walking forward without looking back until he felt a bump on his leg. Curiously, he looked down and found the girl.

"What?"

"T-Thank you for saving me, mister."

He continued looking at the girl blankly while she flashed her a big, grateful smile.

"Didn't do it for you," he said with complete disinterest, returning to his aimless wandering. "Learn to save yourself next time."

The girl stood in place as she contemplated his words.

* * *

 _Atop one of the warehouses in the Port…_

"Did I miss anything?"

"No, they've unloaded all the crates from a boat—now they're just sitting there."

"Cool," he said, offering an apple to Blake, "I stole you some food."

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" she said while giving him a blank look.

"Uh… hahaha?"

A sudden gust of wind noisily blew over them accompanied by strong beams of light from above. They both hid away and looked up, seeing one cargo airship. They watched it land in the middle of the container port and moments later, armed men in masks walked out of the airship—all of them bearing marks of a red fanged beast with three claw marks on their backs.

Disappointed, Blake clicked her tongue as she lightly shook her head.

"Is that them?"

"Yes."

"What do we do now?"

"We observe them for now and look for an opportunity to sabotage them lat-"

"Hey!" a man yelled, "What's the hold-up?"

Surprised, they looked to the source and found Roman Torchwick himself walking out of the airship.

"We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, _SO_ , why don't you animals pick up the pace?" he said, all haughtily while twirling his cane.

"Something's wrong."

"What?"

Blake drew Gambol Shroud, "The White Fang would never work with a human—much less someone like _that._ " jumping off the roof, leaving Sun behind.

"Wait!"

Blake stealthily ran behind the containers, hiding behind the shadows as she quickly but quietly sneaked up behind Roman. Drawing her sword around his neck, she held him hostage in front of the White Fang agents.

"What the-"

"Nobody move!"

"Oh, for fu-" he said with an irritated eye roll.

A few White Fang agents surrounded her with guns and swords pointed steadily at her.

"Whoah! Take it easy there, little lady."

Sun stayed atop the roofs, closely watching over Blake. _"What the hell is she doing?"_

She removed her bow and let it float away to reveal her ears. "Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?"

The White Fang members reluctantly backed off, some clicking their tongue in irritation.

"Oh, kid…" he laughed, "Didn't you get the memo?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, holding her blade a little closer to his neck.

"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together," he smirked.

"Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation."

Another gust of wind blew noisily above them, calling their attention upwards were a couple more airships were flying just above them.

"I wouldn't exactly call it ' _a little operation_ '."

Nervously, she backed away while carrying Roman with her when one of the White Fang members realized who they were talking to.

"You're Blake Belladonna!" he yelled, threateningly pointing his gun at her head. "That bitch is a traitor to the cause!"

"What?"

"I remember her now…"

"You've got no right to tell us what to do after you betrayed us, you fucking traitor!"

Blake anxiously eyed everyone, glancing from person to person as she took nervous steps back.

 _"Shit, Blake was from the White Fang!?"_ Sun thought as he anxiously watched the scene unfold before him. " _Is that why she's trying to stop them!? Crap, I gotta do something!"_

"Ooooh… I recognize you now. You were Adam's right hand, right?"

"What?"

Unknown to her, Roman had aimed his cane at her footing.

* * *

From various points in Vale, an explosion was seen and heard.

Ruby and Penny saw smoke rising from just two blocks behind them.

"Oh, no…"

Weiss and Yang only saw the smoke after exiting another bookstore from a little closer to the east of Vale which was a little under 6 km away from the port.

"Something's wrong, Weiss, we need to go," she said, already running ahead.

"I'm with you." she nodded, following closely.

The girl who was on her way to the inn from Mama Jane's heard it from a kilometer away.

 _"I'm sorry, Bardy, Tielle… but people are in trouble!"_

The boy who was lost saw and heard the explosion from atop one of the buildings as he wanted a bird's eye view of the city.

 _"There a fight goin' on over there?"_

The tourist was already out of her disguise and into her combat attire, walking towards the port from a few blocks away while pulling on her gauntlet snug onto her left hand.

 _"Fuck's sake…"_

"Ozpin."

[I know, I can see the smoke from here. For now, go to the location and observe. If there are any civilians, have them evacuated immediately.]

"Fine."

* * *

Blake was sent flying away after taking the full brunt of the explosion, rolling on the ground as she landed to soften the blow. Not long after she barely got up, another explosive round was sent her way again, rolling out of the way at the last moment.

She hid behind the containers and kept to the shadows from there, disappearing from Roman's sight as he slowly and warily watched out for her.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…"

Suddenly, a banana landed on his bowler cap. Disgusted and irritated, he groaned while throwing the banana away as he looked up to search for whoever threw it in the first place. Luckily, or unluckily, he didn't have to search for long as the offender himself landed on his face not a second later.

Sun rolled away and stood with his back turned to Roman. He met him with a glare and a thinly veiled threat, "Leave her alone."

Roman smirked after seeing a lone faunus boy surrounded by his armed men. "You're not the brightest banana in the bunch, _are_ you, kid?"

Immediately, Sun was assaulted from all sides. The first being a sword user coming in with a high swing and a yell. He took a quick step into the goon's space and knocked his sword away with a powerful backhand before punching him away with a mean right hook.

Two others came in which he quickly took care of with a high kick that revolved into a low sweep as he pulled his tri-section staff (Riyu Bang and Jingu Bang) from behind him—hitting the second guy who he leg swept as he fell as soon as his staff was fully extended, sending him towards the first guy he high kicked away.

Still spinning from his kick, he stood with one leg and high kicked another goon in the face while he held himself parallel to the ground with a hand. He dropped to the ground with his back and rolled to stand, hitting the last goon with his staff.

Twirling his staff in front then behind him, he posed with his index finger held up from a half-closed palm extended in front of him while holding the staff close to his side.

Roman dusted himself off and fixed his collar then bowler hat before giving Sun a small salute.

Taking the salute as his queue, Sun charged at Roman with a wide swing to his midsection, one that was easily blocked and parried away. Sun split his staff into nun-chucks, twirling both in each hand and in the air while striking at Roman continuously, all the while shooting shotgun blasts from the nun-chucks' handles.

Unexpectedly, Roman parried and blocked every single strike and blast with relative ease and grace, staying as classy as he could with a smirk that never disappeared from his face.

Out of nowhere, Blake entered with a downward slice to Roman's head.

"He's mine!"

She blurred in front of him, leaving after images that surprised him at first, barely able to block a slash that aimed for his neck from below. Blake continued her momentum forward, going past Roman to pivot behind him for a slash to the back of his knees, to which he easily jumped over.

Using her Shadow again, she struck from Roman's left side with a stab only to appear low on his right side for a sweep kick and an upper slash. She continued her assault, relentlessly attacking Roman from every possible angle she could, leaving after images to both disorient and take the blow which should have been hers.

Roman, much like before, easily parried, blocked, and dodged through nearly every attack aimed at him with his cane and sheer skill in close quarters combat. Waiting for the next time Blake appeared in front of him, he threw a punch that caught Blake before she could use her Shadow to step away.

After finally staggering the girl, he hit her with his cane on the head, right flank, then cheek, causing Blake to turn her back to him unwillingly. He took the opportunity to thrust at the exposed back with his cane and pulled the trigger to send another explosive shot at point-blank range.

Only to have it miss when Sun pulled Blake low and parried his cane high with his gun-chuck—sending the shot to a container far behind them.

Sun continued his assault after letting go of Blake with a strike from his left to Roman's right flank, sending him a few steps back as he twirled from the force of the strike.

Blake followed up on the assault with a mid-slash, then Sun struck high for Roman's head with both a bash and a blast, and finally finishing the combo with Blake fly kicking at Roman's chest after vaulting over Sun from behind.

Roman was sent skidding away, dazed from the beating he just received. Sun and Blake took the opportunity to take a short breather as they watched Roman slightly struggle to get back up.

"Damned kids…" he said through grit teeth. He dusted himself off while glaring at the two before holding his cane up in front of them to shoot. "I'm not really a fan of child abuse _or_ animal abuse, it's just _beneath_ me!" he chuckled in pure mockery and sarcasm, "But it looks like it can't be avoided tonight."

Sun and Blake prepared to dodge out of the way as they waited for Roman to pull the trigger, but before anything could happen, a figure came in from the sky, landing in a cloud of dust between them.

"Oh man, what is it now?"

Before the dust settled, another voice called from the side, atop one of the warehouses.

"Hey!" Ruby yelled, implanting Crescent Rose's sharp blade to the roof after a twirl.

Realizing who it was, Roman quickly greeted. "Oh, hello, Little Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Ruby? Are these people your friends?"

Ruby looked behind her, "Penny, get back."

Taking advantage of the rookie mistake, Roman quickly shot what was supposed to be for Sun and Blake at the unaware Ruby.

Not anticipating the blow at all, Ruby was unable to block the shot that hit her directly on her back, knocking her off the building to the other side unconscious and bleeding.

"Ruby, no!" Penny panicked, jumping down the building to get to Ruby.

"Ruby!" Blake yelled.

"Did you make that explosion earlier?" Roman, Blake, and Sun heard.

They looked to the source who was idly standing between them. A muscular boy with unkempt black hair and bright green eyes.

"Was it you?" he asked, looking to Roman. "Was it him?" he quickly asked, pointing to Roman with a lazy finger, impatient as he was already.

"It…" Blake answered, warily eyeing the person in front of him, "...yes, it was him." she said, backing off with a hand held in front of Sun to get him to back off as well.

"Okay," he nodded, "he's mine now." he grinned, jumping at Roman without a second wasted.

"Oh, for _fuck's sa-!_ "

The boy landed with a hammer fist on the ground, causing a large explosion and a small crater where Roman used to stand.

" _Come on!_ " he taunted, eagerly running at him while leaving small cracks for every step he took. "Come on, come on, come on, _come on_ , _**COME OOOON!**_ "

"Where the hell are these kids _coming_ from!?" Roman ran, taking absolutely no chance to even try and block or parry, much less trade blows with him. He took his scroll out and made a call as fast as he could, "I need back-up!"

[What's wrong?] a woman answered.

"A _human bomb_ is chasing me!" he said while looking back, seeing the raw power ramming through and bulldozing over the obstacles in front of him without ever slowing down—all the while cackling maniacally.

[What?]

"Just send some help unless you want this operation to fail!"

[Very well, stay alive as long as you can. Help is on the way.]

"Great," he said, pocketing his scroll with an eye roll as he jumped over another container, " _just_ peachy."

"Hey, hey, hey! I just want a good fight, god damn it! Stop running!"

While the boy left destruction in his wake, Blake, followed by Sun, ran to where Ruby fell as quickly as she could. There she saw Ruby unconscious with her cloak and the back of her dress burned and tattered, revealing a nasty burn mark and a gaping wound near the middle of her lower back.

"N-No… no, no, no, no, no, no…" Blake quickly came and held Ruby close with tears running down her cheeks, "R-Ruby… no, please-"

Penny calmly ripped her sleeves off to hold and put pressure over Ruby's wound. "Please keep putting pressure over her wound while letting your Aura flow over to her but be careful not to put too much all at once or else she might get a fever from Aura overload instead," she said, taking Blake's hand and guiding it over to Ruby's wound. "You do not have much time but there is still a chance to save her."

"O-Okay." she sniffed, wiping her tears with her free hand before using it to put more pressure as was told. "You can't die, Ruby- I-... I won't let you. She'll be sad if you do."

Sun saw Penny walking away from them and called out, "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Please, do not worry and watch over Blake and friend Ruby. I will simply fight in her stead," she said before jumping through the wall while summoning her floating swords from behind her and into the port-turned-battlefield.

"Are you crazy!?" he yelled.

Hearing footsteps coming from behind him, he quickly turned and saw a girl with long black hair (styled with blunt bangs) and purple eyes. She saw him looking at her and she jogged up toward him. She put a hand over his shoulder and spoke in a slight panic, "Did you see a musclehead fly over here? Messy black hair? Tattered black t-shirt? Camouflage pants?"

Sun quickly realized who the girl was talking about but before he could answer, another explosion happened while a bright green light shone through the gaping wall.

"Oh, never mind!" she said, quickly running past him, "I know where he is!" she looked back while continuing her run, "Make sure she's breathing comfortably while putting pressure on the wound!"

"Oh, and, just in case, run away from here as far as you can if you don't wanna die! Take care!" she yelled, disappearing to the other side. "Bardy, you _complete idiot_ , calm _down!_ Don't get us chased out like in _Vacu-WHOAH!_ Floating swords! _Those are FLOATING SWORDS!_ Oh my god, that's so _amazing!_ "

Sun stared in a daze at what had just happened before him when he remembered what the girl said just then.

"Blake, can you move?" he asked nervously.

" _Does it look like I can move?!_ " she nearly shrieked in complete irritation and exasperation combined with her anxiousness and tears. "Ruby's _dying_ and you want me to _move!?_ "

"F-Fair point." pursing his lips as he looked around warily.

"Hey, you two." a girl called from where the other girl came from, "Blake? What happened?"

Blake looked up and saw a familiar head of red twintails running up to them. "T-Tiella..!"

"What's wrong with Little Rose?" she quickly asked, eyeing the amount of blood on Blake's hands. Before Blake could answer, she clicked her tongue and was already fishing out bandages from her pocket.

"R-Ruby was-..." she sniffed, "R-Ruby got shot f-from behind a-a-aaand- and-...!"

"Use this," she said, tossing the bandages. "We'll talk later," she said, checking Ruby's pulse, breathing, and heartbeat, as well as her wound—mentally sighing in relief as she noted that Ruby wasn't in a fatal condition like she looked at first glance. "Whatever you're doing, _keep doing it_. I'll be right back."

"O-Okay," she said, switching Penny's torn sleeves for the bandages she received.

Tiella eyed Sun with a stern look and spoke as she walked past him, "Keep an eye out for her, will you?"

Dumbfounded again, he looked back and forth between Tiella, Blake, Ruby, and everywhere else as his mind raced, unable to keep up with how things were going.

"Ozpin."

[Yes?]

"Don't let the police catch these two. I know them personally."

[Personally? You mean…?]

"Yeah, I'll take care of them."

[Very well, bring them here afterward.]

"That's the plan."

Tiella observed the black haired girl, who she immediately recognized as Lillianne, exchanging pleasantries with a ginger girl who was about a head and a half smaller than her. She walked up and called out, catching the attention of both girls.

 _"I don't know why you're here… but I think you just saved me a lot of trouble by fucking up whatever Ozpin's plan was for me. Thanks, Lilly."_

"Lilly!"

Surprised by the voice, she looked to the source with wide-eyed anticipation. Seeing Tiella walking towards her with a stern look, she turned even more ecstatic than she had been already.

"T-Tiebbe!" she yelled, running up to her with tears and snot running down her face. " _I_ _ **mished**_ _you sho_ _ **muuuhhh!**_ " She dived for a hug but was easily sidestepped, so she skidded forward on the cold, rough, ground.

"Wipe your face! You're disgusting!" she yelled.

Lilly stood up with scratch wounds all over her face, "Wha-! That's sho rude!" she yelled, "An' I don' haf' abythi' to wipe wi'!"

"Jesus Christ…" she shook her head in disbelief, walking over with while fishing out another roll of bandages. "Use thi-"

"Gotcha!" yelled, hugging Tiella tightly, burying her face in her chest.

" _Fuckin-_ " she pushed "Let go of me you snot-nosed little shit!"

Through a muffled voice, Tiella heard Lillianne sniff, "...but I missed you so much… we all did…"

An explosion was heard behind them, Penny looking between the explosion and the pair while wondering what to do. Tiella sighed, gently wrapping her arms around Lillianne's head, tears welling in the corner of her eyes as well.

"It's so surreal… it… it just feels like a dream. How did you even _get_ he-"

Another explosion happened and a small stray piece of rock hit Tiella on the back of her head, earning a small gasp from Penny.

" _Sonuva-_ " she said through clenched teeth, letting go of Lillianne, "That's it. I'm knocking him out." she said, rubbing the back of her head where she was hit.

Lillianne wiped her tears away and chuckled, "You're gonna need help with that."

Tiella scoffed, smirking at Lillianne, "Just watch, I'm not the same girl as before I was thrown here, Lilly." she winked before running towards the source of the explosions.

Lillianne curiously tilted her head at Tiella's bold statement. She always needed help in suppressing an excited Bardel—but now she was saying that she could handle it alone?

As she continued wondering, Penny ran up to Tiella to speak with her.

"Hello! I'm Penny Polendina, please be my friend." she bowed with a smile.

Tiella blankly stared at the girl and looked back and forth between her and Lillianne, earning a chuckle from her. "Whatever, yeah, sure. Name's Tiella."

" _Sen-sa-tional!_ " she exclaimed, "I've earned _two new friends_ today! Father will be so _pleased_ to hear it!"

"Oookay…" she blinked a few times at the odd girl. Focusing back on the task at hand, she passed Penny, "I have a job to do, Penny. So, unless you can help, stay out of the way."

"Don't worry, friend Tiella!" she saluted, "I'm combat ready!"

She grinned, tugging on her gauntlet, "Glad to hear it."

They ran forward, where two bullheads were carrying a container each were trying to get away. Tiella was about to jump ahead while Penny wanted to pull the bullheads down but before they could, they saw a forklift hurled at one of the airships, causing it to explode and crash down.

"Come back here, asshole!" Bardel screamed at the top of his lungs.

Roman was on the bullhead that managed to dodge the flying forklift and was eyeing Bardel with eyes of pure exasperation and disbelief. "These kids just keep getting weirder and weirder," he said as the airship successfully flew away.

Tiella clicked her tongue and put a hand to her ear as she approached Bardel.

"Ozpin, one of them's escaped!" she said, glaring at the bullhead.

" _Hold up-_ "

[It's fine.]

"What? Then what the fuck's the point of all this?"

"Tiella?"

[We managed to stop the White Fang from getting as much as they could.]

"Fine."

"Hey!"

"Shut up, you noisy fuck! I was talking to someone!"

"What the hell!?"

"I said, you're a noisy fuck!"

"I look for you for two damn weeks and that's what I get!?"

"You didn't do shit, asshole! I bet Lilly did all the looking! You put me here, too, you fucking cunt!"

"It was an accident!"

"You're not even apologizing!"

"Maybe I will if you weren't acting like such a bitch!"

"What? You wanna have a go!?" she yelled, banging her hands on her chest.

"Bring it on, bitch!" doing the same.

For every word they threw at each other, then stepped closer and closer until they were already butting heads—each one not letting up as they pushed forward.

Bardel threw a right uppercut, directly aiming for Tiella's chin. Tiella easily dodged with a slight tilt of her head and upper body, feeling a strong gust of wind following through the punch. She countered by locking Bardel's arm with her own right arm, twisting his arm back before beating Bardel with a few sharp blows with her left directly to his nape while at the same time kneeing him on his solar plexus alternately blow for blow.

Bardel broke the hold through sheer strength but felt a little dazed after getting hit a few times on his vital spots. Tiella continued her assault after recovering from being pushed back, jumping high for a sharp ax kick that aimed once again for Bardel's nape.

Bardel was forced to hunch forward but he managed to hold his ground through sheer leg and upper body strength, powering through her attack even after another disorienting blow. He turned his body fast, throwing another uppercut with even more force than before, blowing the surrounding dust and small debris, along with Tiella's hair away.

Surprised by the sudden and unnatural spike in strength, Penny took a step back as she was hit by the shockwave while she carefully watched the fight unfolding in front of her.

Tiella, once again, easily dodged the uppercut and quickly took advantage of Bardel's awkward position with his upper body parallel to the ground while his legs were unstable through the movement with a sharp fist that crashed in the middle of his neck while forcing him down to the ground, leaving cracks underneath.

Unable to breathe for the next few seconds, Tiella continued her assault with a full powered kick to his head—much like one would to a football—then mercilessly pounding him with consecutive heavy blows to his face using her gauntlet, leaving even bigger and deeper cracks on the ground where he laid.

While pulling her arm back for her 8th punch to his head, it was grabbed just centimeters away from hitting, the force of the punch that was stopped blowing a small amount of dust and dirt surrounding Bardel's head.

 _"Ah, crap."_

Tiella immediately twisted her arm to get out of the hold, but the grip was too tight for her to escape. Bardel pulled her closer and punched Tiella on her stomach for a direct hit, sending her flying hundreds of meters in the air. Bardel took the opportunity to adjust his breathing as he leaned on his knees, coughing up air and blood on the ground.

"Bardy! You overdid it! You killed Tiella!" Lillianne yelled from far away.

"She'll be fine!" he yelled back, "She has Aura, too, now! I felt it when I punched her! None of her bones broke!"

"Okay! If you're so sure!"

"Yeah! Don't get in my way!"

Bardel stretched his neck, causing a few popping sounds, followed by his back. He looked up as he idly rotated his shoulders while waiting for Tiella to come down.

"You punched her too high!"

"Not my fault she's so light!"

"You're an idiot! Everything's too light for you!"

"Excuse me..!"

Bardel looked to his side where he heard to voice come from—the girl who was running with Tiella earlier. "What?"

"Please, be my friend!" she curtsied after walking up to him.

Bardel looked past Penny to where Lillianne was to send her a questioning brow.

"She's a good girl!"

Bardel looked back to Penny who was still holding her curtsy and then back to Lillianne unconvinced.

"She uses _10 floating swords_ as weapons!"

Bardel nodded impressed with pursed lips. "Good enough for me," he said, extending a hand to shake Penny's hand.

Penny excitedly took his hand with both of hers and shook it with all her might, "I am so _ecstatic!_ _Three_ friends on the same day!"

"Are you strong?" he asked with a grin.

"I'm combat ready." she easily replied.

"Hope you're strong, then." letting go of Penny's hand.

"I hope to fight you in the coming tournament," she said before jogging away to her original spot.

"Tournament?" he wondered.

While Bardel was in deep thought, he was suddenly struck on the head by a screaming Tiella's spinning elbow dive, plunging him neck-deep into the concrete floor of the port. Stunned, his eyes spun and his mind went blank as he tried to gather his bearings.

Tiella rolled away after hitting the ground, then angrily stomped towards Bardel's head and started kicking and stomping on him, releasing all of her pent up anger and frustrations, uncaring of the widening cracks where Bardel was implanted.

"Asshole! Asshole! Asshole! Asshole! Asshole! _Asshole!_ _**ASSHOLE!**_ " she yelled for every kick and stomp. She leaned in at the still-stunned Bardel to scream at his face, "I nearly _peed_ myself you fucking jackass! That was _too high!_ "

"Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK! YO- _WHOAH!_ "

Tiella's stomping was cut short when Bardel's hand grabbed her boot. He glared at Tiella, spitting blood to his side before rising out of the hole he was just in, as if it was nothing. Tiella quickly kicked at Bardel's neck, aiming to make him let go, but was ultimately a bad move as she soon learned.

" _FUCK YOU, TOO!_ "

Bardel, enduring the kick to his neck, pulled Tiella along by the boot and started smashing up the ground with her, leaving cracks for every time she hit the ground.

"FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, _FUCK._ _ **YOU!**_ "

After the 3rd smash, Bardel threw her down but before Tiella could hit the ground another time, she maneuvered herself to reach for Bardel's arm to wrap her legs tightly around his neck.

Tiella tightly clenched her fists to the point her knuckles whitened and started banging on his vital spots once again. "That." a punch to his eye, "Fucking." a hammer fist to his temples, " _HURT!_ " and a slap to his ears.

Tiella found that her continuous assault on his vital parts was finally working, as he appeared to react slower, and slower over time. So, she finished it by using Bardel's shoulders as a platform to jump as high as she could for another elbow dive to his head, finally knocking him down on the ground. As he was still slightly conscious, Tiella went for a full powered kicked at his head much like one would to a football to score a goal.

"...'m... rry... ella..."

She stopped a centimeter short of kicking him again on the face after hearing him mutter his words before finally going unconscious—noting his bleeding lips and nose, as well as the cuts on the top of his head, right eyebrow, and cheek.

Tiella huffed heavily through her mouth, stretching her shoulders, back, and neck after making sure that Bardel was truly out cold.

"Been a while since I stopped holding back. That felt good... damn, I needed that."

" _In-credible!_ " Penny exclaimed, "I watched him fight and I was quite sure that he was the strongest man I've seen to date, so when I saw that you were confronting him, I felt anxious and was poised to intercept but you easily handled him!" she said, excitedly looking back between Tiella and Bardel.

"What's even more amazing is that a lesser man would have quickly died _far before_ you finished the beating you gave him because he had his Aura locked! Truly, the world is vast and I have _much_ to learn!"

Tiella smiled wryly at Penny's words and actions before carrying Bardel like a sack of potatoes over her shoulder. When she turned around, she saw Lillianne curiously looking at her with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"Amazing…!" she said in barely hidden awe, "...you actually knocked him out by yourself! You've gotten so much stronger, Tielle! That's so great! Weren't you worrying about it before because you felt like you were at the peak of your strength and that you were stagnating already?"

"Aura does wonders, Lilly." she smiled, nostalgically looking back at the excitable girl before her. "Come on, there's someone that wants to meet you."

"Wait!" she said, walking beside Tiella and Penny, "Is it the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin?"

Tiella gave Lillianne a surprised look but it was immediately gone as she laughed, "I shouldn't even be surprised why you know that name. I guess I just missed you guys a lot. Even _this_ stupid fucking knucklehead."

Lillianne cooed, unable to stop herself from hugging Tiella's free arm as they walked together. "I missed you, too. Everyone did… especially Karen."

"Yeah…" she nodded, a distant look over her face. "Karen."

As they walked towards the exit, they heard police sirens from police cars parked at the scene already. When they walked out of the crime scene, lights and pistols were pointed at them, hearing shouts telling them to 'freeze'.

Tiella took her huntress license out of her pocket and flashed it in front of the police. "I'm a huntress from Beacon."

The chief ordered his men to lower their guns before approaching her apprehensively.

"Before you speak, I just did 80% of your job," Tiella cut in, "I'm taking these two and the Beacon kids with me, also, I don't do police reports. Good luck, have fun," she said, patting the chief on the shoulder. "tons of White Fang goons knocked out in there so you better start searching unless you want them to escape."

"You can't do that-!" he yelled, calling Tiella back but was promptly ignored. He fished his scroll out of his pocket after feeling it vibrate. Seeing an unknown number giving him a call, he warily answered.

"Who is it?"

[I am Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon. I apologize for whatever rudeness my huntress has done but please let her go. I'd be happy to provide you with answers myself.]

"Tsk, fine," he said, glaring at the back of Tiella. He turned his radio on and quickly issued his order. [Let the huntress pass, she answers to Ozpin. I want three teams to go with me into the port, we're dealing with the White Fang here—let's find them quickly! Move it!]

Tiella and company found Blake still holding onto Ruby with an exhausted look on her face. She dropped Bardel on the ground with a thud to walk over to Blake, earning a wry smile from Lillianne while Penny simply hopped over him before he got picked up by Lillianne.

"Blake," she called but earned no response. She looked to Sun for answers yet it didn't look like he knew anything.

Sighing, she put a hand on Blake's shoulder, causing her to jump in surprise. "T-Tiella…"

Tiella observed Blake, putting a hand on her forehead and feeling a slight fever building. She then checked on Ruby like she did before and was happy to note that she was already out of any danger, taking note of her steady pulse and breathing, and the scar tissue already having formed where her wound was. All she needed was time to rest, she guessed.

"You can rest now, Blake. Ruby's safe."

"B-But-"

"Shh… you need to rest, too," she said softly, gently patting Blake on the back of her head.

Feeling the exhaustion wash over her, she leaned towards Tiella's shoulder as she closed her eyes. "I'm… sorry…" finally falling asleep.

"Hey, Ozpin."

[Yes?]

"Can you send for an airship to pick us up?"

[Of course, it should be there within 30 minutes.]

"Thanks."

Tiella borrowed a police car to place the knocked out trio into as they rested while they waited for their airship to arrive. After a few minutes, they saw Yang and Weiss walking towards them.

"They're with me," Tiella said to a policeman, earning a nod.

"Yang," she nodded towards them, "Weiss."

"Hey, Celeste."

"Tiella."

Yang saw Penny and quickly she questioned her, "Where's Ruby?"

Before Penny could answer, Tiella already did it for her. "Here," she called, putting a hand over Yang's shoulder to guide her to the police car. Weiss followed behind and she was surprised to see her as well as Blake sleeping within.

Yang took a sharp breath in, "What happened?" asking softly, carefully watching over her dear sister and partner sleep.

Tiella, with the help of Penny and Sun, explained everything that happened to Yang and Weiss.

"Apparently, Blake's an Ex-White Fang member," Sun said, scratching the back of his head. "I heard everyone call her a 'traitor to the cause' or something."

Tiella continued, deciding to forget her promise to Blake, "She was a member from way before the group changed for the worse. She stuck around for a few years because she thought they were finally making a difference but she immediately broke off when she'd had enough of their violent ways."

Tiella leaned on the police car with arms crossed as she continued, "I know you only hate lawbreaking Faunus in particular, Weiss, and I don't blame you for it. I'm not gonna pretend like I know what you've been through—but you gotta understand that the world isn't so black and white."

She put a hand over a pensive Weiss' head, "She's made mistakes she deeply regrets even now—it's probably why she was here… to try and stop the Fang herself. And right now, you only need to give her the time and opportunity she needs."

"I…" Weiss spoke, "...I've had a lot of time to think over everything."

Yang glanced at Weiss from where she was gently caressing Ruby's hair.

"And… I think I'm ready to sit down and talk with Blake."

"I'm sure she'd be happy with that." Tiella smiled.

"I need to apologize to her, too."

"You'll get your chance."

"And you need to stop rubbing my hair."

"I dunno, Weiss. Your hair's silky and _fine_."

She swatted Tiella's hand, "Away with you!"

"You want to go away with me, Weiss? I'm flattered and I'm _down_ for _that_." she grinned, "All you gotta do is let me know where we're going." she winked with a salacious bite of her lips.

Weiss rubbed a hand over her face in exasperation, " _Please_ , let me worry over my friends like a normal person instead of forcing me to argue with you." she pleaded, eliciting laughter from everyone.

"By the way, what happened to this guy's face? He looks like he got hit by a truck." Yang asked.

"That was me." Tiella raised her hand.

"He a bad guy?"

"No, just a cunt."

"What."

"I can't believe it." Lillianne chimed with a smile, catching everyone's attention.

"...what?" Tiella answered, giving her a funny look.

"You've changed so much in the 2 weeks I didn't see you." she smiled.

Tiella looked at Lillianne with wide eyes, easily realizing what her smile meant, "Lilly…" she said softly before licking dry lips.

"Hello, everyone!" ignoring Tiella, she waved her hand, "My name is Aliciel Lillianne Le Fiora de La Vernillion," she spoke with an accent they couldn't recognize, putting her right hand over her heart as she bowed and scraped.

"That's a long name…" Yang commented.

 _"Lillianne…? The swordswoman that Tiella wanted to copy before?"_

She raised her head and smiled regally, "But you may call me Lilly. I'm an unlicensed huntress in the same team as Tielle and the boy sleeping next to Blake, Bardel Juno Armas."

The act earned weird looks from Yang, looking between her, Tiella, and the boy while Weiss curtsied in exchange, "I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I'm a member of Team RWBY and partner to team leader, Ruby Rose. We're a huntress trainee team from Beacon Academy. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lilly."

"Likewise." Lillianne reached for Weiss' hand, giving it a kiss.

The kiss rose everyone's eyebrows in response, Weiss even more so with a hand to her cheek in surprise, save for Tiella who was giving Lillianne a dead stare.

"Don't be fooled, Weiss," Tiella called. "She's worse than me and Yang combined," she said, looking at her fingernails.

"Huh?"

"My dear, Tielle! You hurt me with your words!" faking hurt.

"Lilly, stop. You're creeping me out."

"Okay, fine…" she pouted with arms crossed. "It's just that the last time I saw you, you were never this gentle."

"Wha-"

"You were acting _so_ much like everybody's _big sister_."

"Can you, like, _fuckin' no-_ "

"Compared to when you first met me and Bardy, you couldn't _wait_ to get rid of us even though we were supposed to be a team."

Tiella sighed, already understanding that she couldn't stop Lilly even if she tried.

"Where was _this_ Tielle when I was only beginning to know how to fight?"

" _Here_ we go again…"

"Where was _this_ Tielle when I needed help when I was down?"

" _This_ Tielle wasn't there because you're acting like that," she gestured with her hand, "like a little shit."

"But I'm _your_ little shit."

"You and Bardel both, yeah."

Tiella scowled down at Lillianne while Lillianne grinned up at Tiella. They kept the stare off for a few seconds until they started laughing. They hugged it out again, staying close as they whispered to each other, getting soft looks from everyone.

"I really never thought I'd ever see you again… Why are you here? You shouldn't be here at all, even!"

"I never lost hope, Tielle. And we came to bring you back… though, I guess it wouldn't be that easy, huh?" she said, giving the Beacon students a knowing look.

"Yeah… and boy, oh boy, do I have bad news for you about that."

After a quick glance, Lillianne noted one person missing.

"Hey, guys?" calling everyone to attention, "Where's Penny?"

* * *

"You should know better than to go running around in a strange city."

Penny lowered her head, "I know, sir…"

She was sitting at the back of a car parked near the crime scene, observing it from a safe distance away before it drove away.

"Penny, your time will come."

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Thank you so much for reading! I'm so happy that you stuck with me until the end. This is the last chapter to Lost Star_

 _...'s Volume 1!_

 _Do you like Lillianne and Bardel?_

 _Are you fine with the changes I made to the main story? I wanted to stay true to everyone's character but felt that there are quite a few inconsistencies in the main show that just felt like it didn't fit with the character's personalities._

 _Maybe it's just me being picky. I dunno._

 _Just a heads up, I'll need some time to properly prepare for Volume 2. I already have some ideas of how I want to go with it but the ideas aren't set in stone, so I'll have to see how it pans out. Also, life is catching up on me, so do expect slower updates again. Sorry!_

 _Again, thank you for sticking with me up to now. Do let me know how you feel in the reviews!_

 _Until next time!_

* * *

In a warehouse district in Vale, Roman Torchwick could be seen placing a suitcase on an empty table in the middle of the night.

He leaned on the table with a heavy sigh and took out tobacco from his chest pocket. Lighting it up, he puffed out a thick huff of smoke while pocketing his lighter. He heard the door slam open, causing him to abruptly turn at the lady strutting towards him.

"How very disappointing… Roman."

"Everything was going swimmingly until this kid showed up and started thrashing the place!"

"The _human bomb_ , was it?" she sneered.

"Don't believe me?"

The woman walked closer, summoning a flame in her hand. "Oh, I believe you, Roman… after all, you're talking to one right now," she said, staring back at him with eyes glowing a dangerous light of flames.

She turned around and walked away, diffusing the flame in her hand, "Next time, I want to hear results— _not_ excuses."

* * *

3 days ago in the forests between Vacuo and Vale, Bardel was running at full speed, jumping from tree to tree with Lillianne on his back, blissfully enjoying the strong winds while sightseeing.

"Hey, Lilly."

"Yes?"

"Why am I carrying you again?"

"Because we need to run away fast."

"Why?"

"Because you turned us into wanted men in Vacuo."

"Ah, right."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Are we going the right direction?"

"Yup."

"Okay."

And so, Bardel kept running with Lillianne on his back, all the way to Vale.

"Don't wreak havoc in Vale, okay?"

"..."

"Bardy?"

"..."


	23. Chapter 23

" _ **WOOOOOOO!**_ "

"What the fuck."

"..."

" _ **YES! YEEEESSSS!**_ "

A bell was ringing, Lilly was screaming, jumping, and cheering while Bardel was dumbfounded to the side, just standing, and Tiella was readying for some defenestrating.

"STOP FUCKING AROUND, LILLY."

"You can't make me!" She yelled, banging the bell right next to Tiella's ear.

Tiella cringed at the sharp ringing, reflexively covering her ears tightly as she ground her teeth together. Bardel simply stood on the side to watch, quite unwilling to join in.

" _God fucking damn it_ , that hurt!"

Tired of Lilly's antics already, Tiella swiftly grabbed the bell out of her hands and stuck the entire handle deep inside Lilly's butt, causing her to shriek in pain while holding her butt with both hands. To finish Lilly off, Tiella kicked her right into the floor right on her butt, pushing the bell deeper.

Due to the sharp pain, shock, and admittedly _some pleasure_ , Lilly passed out with the whites of her eyes peeking and drool dripping on the soft carpet of Tiella's hotel room—head down and ass up.

Tiella walked away in exasperation while massaging her temples to grab a glass of water to calm down.

"God… where'd she even get that bell?" She said, taking a seat on the bed.

Bardel took a chair from the side and turned it around for him to sit on it with his arms on top of the backrest. "I think she picked it up in Vacuo."

He had bandages and band-aids all over his face and head, as well as a few more around his arms and neck.

"Why the _fuck_ were you in Vacuo?"

Ever the clueless birdbrain, Bardel simply shrugged his shoulders while picking his nose as a response.

Rubbing her face with a hand in utter exasperation, Tiella sighed and stood from the bed. She glared at Lilly, who was still on the floor and kicked her in the face.

"Hey-"

Tiella started along with her kick, though, just as Lilly was about to get hit, she opened her softly glowing purple eyes and watched as the _whole world_ around her ground to a halt.

Tiella's boot was just inches away from meeting her face violently.

Bardel was in the middle of yawning, mouth hung open.

The mosquito in the room was floating away from Tiella.

 _Everything_ was moving so utterly and imperceptibly slow…

—to her _eyes_ , at least.

Because she, too, was moving in relative quickness as she saw.

As she tried to roll away from Tiella's incoming boot from the floor, she took a good long look at Tiella's angry expression for what felt like minutes—an intense feeling of warmth slowly spread across her chest as a smile formed on her face. It was something she hadn't seen in at least two weeks, after all.

She blinked her eyes and the dim light in them faded away as she immediately rolled back to dodge, jump and flip backward, landing on her left knee and right hand in front of Tiella—rolling her head fashionably as if to wave her long black hair with a flourish before giving Tiella a smug grin.

"-I know you're awake." Tiella finished, idly holding her leg to the side for a bit before setting it down.

"Rude of you to try to kick me in the face after sticking a bell up my butt _and_ kicking me down." She said, quickly unjamming the bell from her behind while letting out a little moan.

"Rude of you to fucking ring that nasty shit next to my ear _after_ I told you to shut the fuck up." She retorted, glaring at the offending bell handle held up against her in great disgust. "Why the fuck do you even have that shit anyway?"

"I picked it up in Vacuo." She tossed the bell in the air to twirl before catching it by the bell part of it to wave the handle in front of Tiella once again.

"You're _disgusting_." She mocked in pure indignation.

" _You're_ disgusting—you stuck this thing in _me_ and _I'm_ the disgusting one? _Rude_." She scoffed. "Rude _and_ disgusting."

"I think you're both disgusting." Bardel chimed, nonchalantly providing his two cents.

"Shut up, manchild."

"Keep quiet, Bardy."

" _You_ both shut up. I thought you had something to get here—isn't that why we didn't join your students back to wherever the fuck Beacon is?" Flicking a booger from his pinkie using his thumb in the general direction of both girls.

Tiella cringed from the booger in complete disgust and discomfort, "EAT SHIT, DICKHEAD!" and quickly stole Lilly's bell—minding _not_ to touch the handle—and quickly threw it at Bardel's face, _handle_ first.

"What the fuck?" He flinched away after getting hit in the eye. "That's fucking gross!"

"You hit him with my butt!" Lilly scowled.

"Whatever!" Tiella threw her hands up in the air before plopping back down to the bed with a soft thud. "Why the hell were you cheering anyway?" She asked, blowing her fringes away from her face as she stared at the ceiling.

"I saw the look you had when you checked your scroll earlier." Lilly teased with a raised brow and a smug grin. "2 weeks in a new world and you already found yourself a lover, did you? My, my, the lady killer's finally made her move!" Earning a pillow thrown at her face.

Tiella sat upright and squinted her eyes at Lilly with a glare and a scowl. Meanwhile, Lilly continued with a shit eating grin unperturbed after taking a seat next to Tiella and placing the pillow on her lap to lean on with her elbows.

"Who's the miracle girl? Is she one of the girls at the docks from before?" She asked, eyes dimly glowing purple once more.

"None of your fucking business," Tiella growled, hiding her face to the side as she knew what Lilly was already trying to do.

"Ah, so, none from them, then? I figured it'd be Yang since you're into blondes, guess not, huh?" She nodded sagely, "Is she perhaps someone you met in Beacon?" She leaned forward, taking a peek at Tiella's stoic face. Seeing the _very_ subtle change in Tiella's expression, Lilly grinned and continued. "So, she _is!_ " Exclaiming with the side of her fist atop her palm. "How exciting!"

Tiella frowned wordlessly and pushed Lilly's face away with a hand. "Stop reading my mind, god damn it—you know I hate it when you do that."

"But I'm only reading your face." She argued with a smile, gently taking Tiella's hand off her face.

"Yeah, yeah." Crossing her arms as she looked to the side.

Lilly took another look at Tiella's face and backed off with a small sigh. Smiling knowingly, "Alright, I'll stop talking about it for now. But you gotta tell me later, okay?"

"Fine."

"Introduce me to her, okay?"

"..."

"Tielle?"

"..."

"Tieeeeelle." She leaned close, giving Tiella a raised brow and a teasing smile.

Backing away, "...you'll be meeting her anyway, whether I like it or not."

"So, she's staff!" Clasping her hands together.

" _Can you fucking stop?_ " She threatened, a scary mixture of an angry, toothy smile, upward twitching furrowed brows, and a throbbing vein on the side of her forehead greeted Lilly in return. "I'm gonna shove the bell itself up your ass this time."

"Wow," Bardel chimed, "guess you're really into her, huh."

"None of your fucking business, shitface."

"Rabid wolf shiteater."

"Shitfaced cockmaster."

"Uncle fucker."

"Mother fucker."

"Dyke."

"Retard."

"Jackass."

"Dumbass."

"Bitch."

"Cunt."

As the _loving_ name-calling continued between the two, Lilly stood from the bed to mix some juice she found on the fridge for everyone to drink all the while humming a lighthearted tune.

"Faggot." Tiella offhandedly retorted while taking the glass of orange juice from Lilly.

"Butch." Bardel doing the same.

"Fuckboy supreme."

"Turbodyke."

They both paused to sip at their juice, letting out refreshed "' _Aahhh's'_ " before they continued in unison.

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you."

Lilly looked out the window while leaning on the ledge with her arms as she people-watched Vale's nighttime citizens. The three of them took sips from their glasses again.

""Asshole.""

Lilly sipped. "You missed each other _that_ much, huh?"

""Fuck you, too, Lilly.""

She looked back from the window with a curious brow and a teasing smile. "Why is it that you two get along best when you're fighting?"

""None of your fucking business.""

Downing the remainder of her juice in a few large gulps, Tiella slammed her glass on the small lamp desk next to the bed she was sitting on.

"Let's just get down to business." She said in a low murmur with a serious expression while holding up her scroll.

Catching the tension, Bardel and Lilly got rid of the lighthearted air they had earlier and traded it for a more serious shift in tone. Tiella pursed her lips and waved her scroll a few times at Lilly before she tossed it at her. Lilly easily snatched it from the air with her left hand and understood the knowing look Tiella was giving her—so she began dismantling Tiella's scroll as quickly, quietly, and delicately as possible.

While Lilly was busy, Tiella looked to a curious Bardel and gestured at him with a finger held in front of her mouth—telling Bardel to keep quiet, to which he nodded easily.

"So, Lilly…" Tiella called, returning to a more casual tone.

Lilly heard the call so she gave Tiella a questioning brow and another quick look at her face helped her understand Tiella's intention so she nodded to let Tiella continue as she worked.

"...how's Karen and Jamey?" She continued, giving Bardel another look and a gesture of her head and her hand for him to simply follow along.

"Karen's… well…" she drawled with a tongue sticking out the side of her mouth while fiddling with Tiella's scroll. "...she was pretty devastated when we returned to camp without you."

Bardel chimed in to continue. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever," Tiella waved, "asking you to stop being clumsy is like asking Fire to stop burning things. And Jamey?"

"He spent most of the week since you disappeared trying to understand the orb you stumbled upon."

"He actually didn't wanna send for anyone to go fetch you, the bastard." Bardel once again giving his two cents.

"Smart move—I wouldn't wanna send for anyone to go fetch for you either if it happened to any of you. It's a waste of time and resources."

"Some _friend_ you are." Bardel retorted.

"Some friend _you_ are." Tiella snarked back.

"I can understand Dr. Jameson's decision to not want to look for you… but you know me, Tielle." Lilly looked up to give Tiella a small smile before she continued. "You're the first person other than my parents who didn't put me on a pedestal, and that means to me more than you can _ever_ know."

"Hmph."

"If it means dropping everything to find you, I will. The world can burn a little longer while I try to get you back with us and make sure you're safe." She smiled ever so gently. "And you should know better than to lie to me." She teased.

Tiella chose to remain silent, already used to the fact that you can never lie to Lilly's face.

"I know that you would've done the same as I wanted to do if it did happen to either of us instead, but the big difference would be that you're gonna do it without telling anyone—not even Karen."

"Shut it." She dismissed, a tiny pout appeared on her face with a small tinge of red on her cheeks before starting another topic. "What did Karen do while I was away?"

She paused for a bit while in thought, gently splitting the case of Tiella's scroll. "She didn't talk to nor gave Bardy any healing for 3 days straight whenever she beat him down." She chuckled while Bardel groaned. "She still beat him to a pulp on the 4th day, though, but at least she finally healed him."

However, with a morose shift in tone, "...she also spent most of her nights drinking herself to sleep."

Tiella sighed. "Just when I got her to drink in moderation after months of trying, she goes back to drowning herself again." She leaned back with her hands behind her for support.

"You can't blame her."

"I know…"

"Though, she did use up your entire alcohol stash for that."

"What a fucking bitch—I suddenly don't miss her anymore."

The room was silent for a little while as everyone focused on different things—Lilly with Tiella's scroll, Bardel with looking out the window, and Tiella just staring at the ceiling with her head hung back.

"So, why the fuck are you two here? Are you guys actually stupid or something?"

"Actually it was supposed to be just me." Lilly chuckled.

Tiella grinned. "So, you admit that you're actually stupid? Gotcha." She then asked in disbelief Bardel who was pointedly still looking out the window. "And you. Did you really just hitch a ride to another world?"

Ignored for a few seconds, "You're fucking unbelievable."

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"Wanna have another go?"

"Did you forget who fucked your face up?"

"I was just holding back."

In a high-pitched mocking voice. "' _I wAs juST HoLDinG bACk'_ , yeah, nah, fuck you."

"Fuck you."

"Dumbass."

"Bitch."

"Cunt."

"Assho-"

" _Anyway!_ " Lilly interrupted their next bout of trash talking that she was sure would lead to another fistfight. "I was originally supposed to go alone because I'm positive I could find you wherever you might have ended up but I initially had some problems with trying to travel in the first place."

* * *

 _One week ago on Earth…_

"I'm ready."

It was 7 in the morning. Lilly stood in the middle of the camp with a large backpack filled with necessities and strapped to its side was her round shield and longsword.

She wore a black sleeveless body-fit one-piece suit that was half made of leather and cloth reaching just below her bum. Over her suit, a blue-green turtleneck leather cloak (hood down) wrapped around her shoulders loosely as she chose not to wear the sleeves. She donned on a pair of fingerless tactical gloves, much like the ones Tiella had.

For her bottoms, she wore a pair of blue-green military cargo pants with camouflage pattern held snug by a black utility belt high on her waist. She tucked the bottom of her pants into her black combat boots with steel toes and heels.

Everyone at the camp was present to see her off, she was quite liked by everyone, after all—not only because of how incredibly beautiful she looked nor was it just her charming and cheery personality, but also because of how she easily improved everyone's job and quality of life ever since she joined six months ago.

She was responsible for teaching the amateur chefs—who were also just the archaeologists themselves—easy and delicious meals with what they had and what they could easily get their hands on while on the move.

She was responsible for fixing broken equipment that they believed had no choice but to dispose of.

She was responsible for gathering information whenever her team was sent out on missions.

There were a lot of other things she helped improve, both big and small.

But most importantly, she was responsible for advancing their understanding of the relics they found as well as what Skills were, how Skills worked, and how the relics related to Skills—which was what the archaeologists were having trouble with before she arrived.

And she managed to balance all of the above with trying to improve her combat prowess.

Truly a superwoman beyond any doubt.

She smiled at everyone that came to see her off. She retrieved the cracked orb from Jameson who begrudgingly handed it over to her after some _gentle persuasion_ from Bardel and Karen who stood on both his sides.

Bardel was in his usual attire, a black T that barely contained his muscles even at a relaxed state, camouflage military pants, and combat boots. He stood to the front, beside Jameson, and yawned while scratching his ass.

"Okay, Doctor, just to be sure, how do I use this again?" She asked with a smile.

"Just hold it against your head, I think." He doubtfully muttered.

"Okay." She did as told and placed it against her forehead. "Do I just concentrate?"

Lilly waited a few seconds for an answer, and while she was disappointed, she wasn't particularly surprised at the lack thereof. Not one to dwell on the downside of things, she simply closed her eyes and concentrated on the orb she held to her forehead.

A few minutes of silence and nothing happening later, Bardel got impatient and started tapping his foot on the ground. After a few _more_ minutes, his patience wore out and he strode over to Lilly.

"Look, gimme that," he said, grabbing the orb out of Lilly's hand to her surprise. "Tiella hit her head hard with it and it started glowing, right?" He juggled the orb on his hand as he spoke before taking a pitcher's stance in front of Lilly.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Jameson yelled in a panic. "Don't be so careless with the orb!"

"Shut up, old man. We just gotta do it again." He threw, uncaring of Jameson's yelling.

Lilly's eyes glowed as she watched the orb that was flying at her slow down so much that it seemed suspended in midair. She took the _time_ to look beyond the orb and over to Bardel, Karen, and Jameson.

" _He's so reckless."_ She thought with a chuckle in her mind. " _Although, he_ _ **is**_ _onto something."_

The glow in her eyes disappeared, and motion returned to the world in her eyes once again. She took the hit to her forehead and saw the orb shining brightly at the moment of impact. Bracing herself for the unknown, she closed her eyes tightly.

Unbeknownst to her at the time, the orb cracked even more and it bounced back to Bardel—accidentally hitting him square on the head as well.

Karen screamed. "BARDEL, YOU BUTTERFINGERED _FU-_ "

Within seconds, the both of them disappeared out of sight while the orb dropped to the ground, cracking further until it finally split and turned to dust—blown away by the wind that howled within the quiet camp, its people stunned to utter silence.

* * *

And just like how Lilly ended the story, the room, too, was in utter silence.

Tiella had a blank look on her face as she looked between Lilly, who was nonchalantly dismantling the scroll with a smile on her face, and Bardel, who was _still_ pointedly looking out the window.

Wordlessly, Tiella stood from the bed, slowly walked towards the bell on the ground and picked it up, mindful not to touch the handle, sat back on her place on the bed, and lazily tossed it over to Bardel's head—only, he didn't react as he did earlier.

...He simply chose to dedicate most of his time and effort into staring out the window. Verily, one should come to him should they need any such aid in looking out windows with such _zeal_ —such _determination_ , as he possessed.

 _Truly_ admirable."

"Lilly."

"Yes, Tielle?"

"Shut the fuck up."

Lilly giggled. "So, when are you gonna introduce me to Supergirl?"

"Supergirl?"

"You know! The one you're head over heels for. She can't _possibly_ be a simple girl if she got you hook, line, and sinker in your two weeks here."

"Make like Bardy and shut the fuck up."

Lilly looked up with a smile beaming at Tiella who was giving her a blank look, simply leaning her chin on her hand that she propped up on her thigh with her elbow. Lilly held her open palm out in front of her and atop it, a small round device could be found.

Tiella pursed her lips and nodded her head in acknowledgment then sent Lilly a questioning brow.

"What about you? How were you two these past two weeks?" She asked, though Lilly received Tiella's _first_ question.

 _"Is it fine to just take it out like that?"_

"Well… I was very surprised, of course. I got sad for about 10 minutes, and after that, I investigated the grounds you disappeared in for around 4 days." She answered while nodding her head to answer Tiella's unspoken question.

"And Bardy?" Tiella continued, pointing at the device with a finger, then to her ear, then gestured a 'phone' with her hand, shaking it a little to ask further.

 _"Does it capture audio like I thought?"_ was the question Lilly understood. So, to answer, she simply nodded her head.

"Why don't you tell her, Bardy?"

"I'd rather not."

"Tell me what?"

Lilly smiled knowingly at Bardel before facing Tiella again. "He was so guilty he kept looking for you in the cave for 4 days straight. He was so adamant about finding you first that he was destroying the ruins in the cave, and that made the scientists at the camp extremely worried."

"Come on, really?" Bardel groaned. "I told you not to tell her!"

"But it's cute." She teased with a giggle.

"Whatever." Throwing his hands up in exasperation, he looked out the window again.

Lilly looked back to Tiella with an apologetic smile. "So, Karen and I had to step in and help him with finding you."

"And by help, you mean beating him down."

"Don't be mad at him too much, okay, Tielle? He's _really_ sorry about it—and I know that little spar you had at the docks was your way of making up, isn't that right, Bardy?"

"Stop reading my face, Lilly," Bardel whined.

"I didn't have to, you know?" She grinned. "You two were _just_ that obvious."

And while holding the same grin, she looked back to Tiella only to find her standing in front of her already. Before she could ask what she needed, Tiella put a gentle hand over her head.

"I'm sorry."

Lilly was surprised for a quick second, looking back at Tiella with eyes widened but laughed nonetheless. "What are you apologizing for, Tielle?"

"You're not the only one good at reading faces, stupid." She said, gently caressing Lilly's hair. "You, too, dumbass." Looking to Bardel who only gave her a silent glance from the corner of his eye.

Bardel stared at Tiella, then to her hand, then noticed Lilly silently sobbing in her seat near the window with her head hung low. He turned his view to the one out the window once again and muttered.

"Hmph… pretty unfair of you to call me a dumbass but her only stupid."

"It means the same thing, dumbass." Tiella grinned.

"You're both stupid, stupid." Lilly chimed after wiping her tears away. Lilly wrapped her arms around Tiella's waist and buried her face in her stomach. "You for apologizing when you did nothing wrong and you for accidentally coming with me here."

Tiella continued to pat Lilly on the head silently for a few more seconds before she tapped Lilly by the shoulder to call her attention. Lilly looked up and asked a silent question with her eyes.

Tiella pointed at her eyes with two fingers and gestured to the device Lilly had in her hand before tilting her head with a raised brow.

 _"Does it capture visuals, too?"_

Lilly looked at the device in her hand again and shook sideways her head to answer. Tiella nodded and sat back on her original spot.

"I need a minute," Tiella said while reaching a finger to her ear. "Ozpin."

[Yes, Tiella?]

"We're spending the night here, is that fine?"

[No, I'm afraid your mission isn't done until you report back to me in person tonight.]

"Alright, fine."

[Meet me at my office as per usual.]

"Okay."

[I will await you in my office.]

"Wait, will Glynda be there?"

There was a slight pause before Ozpin answered, [Yes.]

Tiella smiled ever so slightly before forcing a neutral expression on her face. "Alright, see ya." And she removed the earpiece out of her ear to throw it over the lamp desk. "And now we gotta fuck off to Ozpin's office."

" _Glynda_ 's her name, hmm?" Lilly grinned.

Tiella tilted her head with her mouth ajar, eyes wide at the realization of what she'd just done. She exasperatedly rubbed her face with her hand and covered her mouth with it. "I can't believe I did that in front of you."

"I like the name, means ' _fair_ ' or ' _good_ '." She teased, looking up at the ceiling with a finger on her cheek. "I wonder if you have a picture of her."

"..."

"So, you _do!_ " She beamed, quickly assembling Tiella's scroll with as little noise as possible.

"Good luck with the password." Tiella grinned cheekily.

"Thanks, but no need." She said while fiddling with the still dismantled scroll. A short moment later, Tiella's scroll blinked with light and Lilly stuck her tongue out at Tiella before grinning back at the scroll. Immediately, she was tapping on the holographic screen as fast as she could in search of the photo album. 10 seconds later and she was already smiling ear to ear.

"S _tunning_ , Tielle, _stunning!_ " She beamed, showing Tiella the photo she herself took before showing it to Bardel as well, so he walked over to get a better look. "And it's quite the _lovely_ stolen shot, too."

Bardel had a good long look at the picture and his reaction was pursed lips, raised brows, and acknowledging nods. "Not bad, looks a little old, though. Didn't know milfs were in your strike range."

It was a photo of Glynda standing in the hallways of Beacon with her side facing the camera. Her hair appeared glowing, illuminated by the rays of the sun that were softly beaming through the windows, casting a light shadow over her eyes through her fringes. She was looking out and below with a stoic expression and she was holding onto a scroll close to her chest with her left hand while she had her right hand placed atop the ledge next to her like she was in deep contemplation.

"Fuck me sideways…" Tiella massaged her temples harshly with an eye roll, "...just fucking let it go, Lillia-"

" _SHITWIT!_ " Bardel interrupted as fast as he could in anxiousness.

" _Shi-_ "

Lilly abruptly stood from her seat with her arms wide open and she started to ballet around Tiella and Bardel as she sang to the top of her lungs. "LET IT GO! LET IT _GO~O!_ "

"You did this," Bardel whined.

"Fuck me…" Tiella groaned.

"CAN'T HOLD IT BACK _ANYMO~ORE!_ "

"I WILL _THROW_ YOU OUT THE _GODDAMN_ WINDOW."

"LET IT _GOO~!_ "

And then there were loud knocks on their hotel door quickly followed by loud and angry shushing sounds.

* * *

After packing up and checking out of the hotel at 9:45 pm, the trio made their way to the airship docks for Beacon Academy.

"It's been a while since we last walked into a city that wasn't destroyed," Lilly said offhandedly as she glanced around. "I was busy looking for you that I didn't have the time to appreciate how beautiful this city can be at night."

"True." Tiella agreed.

The brightness of the traffic lights and late night shops, the soft glow peeking from the windows of houses and apartments, the hustle and bustle of people going home as well as those who were just going to work.

To the three of them, it was like scenery from just yesterday, and yet at the same time, a lifetime ago.

 _"I used to go to malls with my mother on busy Sundays just like tonight. Mom would tell me about everything I heard. And I'd usually hear the hustle and bustle of men and women, adults and children, going to and fro. We'd eat sundaes on Sundays just because it sounded quite fitting."_

She saw a woman walking at the opposite side of the road, holding the hand of who seemed to be her daughter.

 _"I wonder how mom and dad are? I hope they aren't too lonely."_

Bardel remained silent with both his hands inside his pockets, glancing around, though a little bit more discreetly compared to the excited gaze that Lilly had. As they walked, he noticed a few people giving him strange, or sometimes, scared looks—likely the bandages on his head and face as well as his burly build. He's got the body of a _very_ muscular strongman, after all.

"Hey, Tielle?" Lilly called out with a soft voice.

"What's up?" She answered without looking back.

"Show us around in Vale when you get the chance, okay? We didn't have the chance to stroll in Vacuo, you see."

Tiella side glanced at Lilly and noted a demure expression on the normally cheery girl. She looked down in thought before she set her eyes ahead of her again.

"I'm usually free after training Team RWBY after school."

The statement got Lilly and Bardel particularly curious and interested as they both gave her curious gazes from beside her.

"You train Team RWBY?" Lilly asked excitedly.

"What's a Team RWBY?" Bardel asked in confusion.

"Oh, right. I knocked you out so you didn't get to meet them earlier."

"You just got lucky."

" _You_ got lucky."

"Fight later! Stories now!" Lilly pouted.

"Okay, okay." Tiella sighed.

* * *

"So, yeah… Little Rose is my most brilliant student right now."

"She sounds pretty amazing."

"Yeah, she is. And I kept thinking that you two would hit it off great if you ever got the chance to meet."

Right after landing at Beacon Academy at night, they made their way straight for the Headmaster's office. Along the way, Bardel chimed in with a question he'd been wanting to ask.

"So, who's the best fighter?"

"Among the four of them?"

"Yeah, but if there's anyone better outside of them, then you gotta tell me, too."

"Yeah, right." She sneered.

"So, who's the best?"

"Right now?" Tiella paused to weigh her students' performance in previous spars and training. "Probably Yang—just because she knows how to take a hit better than the rest of them. I think you'll like her."

"Glad to hear it." He said in a grin quite battle mad.

"You should hold back, though."

He gave her a strange look. "What for?"

"They're students, they don't know fighting like we do. So, don't break their faces in, don't go any higher than your 25%, don't even _think_ about breaking any of the facilities. If you do any of those, I'll give you the extra assholes you so rightfully deserve for sending me here."

"Nevermind, then. They'll probably die if I did that." He said with a lazy look in his eyes, all interest in the Beacon students having all but disappeared.

"Not ' _probably_ ', they really will."

"How come you didn't die when I sent you flying?"

"You said so yourself earlier."

"I guess I did."

As they walked into the halls, they were met by a tall woman with blonde hair, looking every bit a teacher should.

Well, disregarding the keyhole showing off her cleavage and the tightness of her blouse and skirt emphasizing her shapely figure, that is.

"Tiella." She greeted with a sharp gaze as soon as the trio came close.

Tiella was about to answer however she was interrupted by Lillianne who was smiling widely before she could.

"You must be Glynda." She stood in front of Glynda and bowed and scraped just as she did before Weiss. "My name is _Aliciel Lillianne Le Fiora de La Vernillion_." She raised her head. "But please, call me Lilly."

Glynda adjusted her glasses with a subtly raised brow at Lilly's actions and odd accent. While it wasn't unheard of, it was certainly unusual for someone to introduce themselves with a bow and a scrape, much less a girl. Also, that weird accent made her think. Nonetheless, she didn't mind, and simply reciprocated the formalities.

"I see that Tiella's mentioned me," she said while crossing her arms in front of her. "All good things, I hope. I am Glynda Goodwitch, Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy and Professor of Combat for all year levels."

Lilly stood upright from her bow and smiled. "It seems that I correctly guessed that you were staff, but I didn't expect you to be the Deputy Headmistress. Tielle just wouldn't tell me all about you so I had to read her face for it!" She said with a teasing grin aimed at Tiella.

"I don't even care anymore." Tiella took a deep breath in exasperation. "The two people I didn't ever want to meet just met up and are hitting it off in front of me. Why don't you two just end my social life now and let me live in the basement or something."

"You're exaggerating." Lilly deadpanned.

"Curious," Glynda said with a small grin looking between Tiella and Lilly, "what exactly did you _guess_ from Tiella?"

Lilly smiled teasingly, very happy to share what she found. "Well, for starters, I know that she's deeply in love with you."

The statement erased the grin from Glynda's face, turning it into a wide-eyed look of pure shock which, in turn, pleasantly surprised Lilly. She took a peek at Tiella beside her and she was very delighted to see that Tiella had a deep flush on her face while pointedly looking away from them.

 _"Oh, she's so adorable! She's normally either calm, cool, and sarcastic or plain angry—nothing in between."_

Sensing that Glynda had nothing to say, at least immediately, she continued with both hands clasped together in pure delight. "I also found that she has a _very_ beautiful shot of y- _hkk!_ "

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head while her mouth hung agape. There was a sound of _something_ unnoticeably fast hitting her on the chin—her head tilting sideways as it shook abruptly, the force of whatever hit her knocking her out instantly. She went limp as soon as it happened, but before she could fall to the ground, she was caught in the arms of Tiella who had a forced smile on her face.

"Oh, damn, would you look at that," she carried Lilly in her arms in a bridal carry and smiled wryly at Glynda, "looks like I hit the mosquito on her chin too hard, huh? My bad, my bad! But why don't we go on and meet with Ozpin? I'm sure he's getting impatient already."

Glynda who was already surprised just became even more bewildered by what had just happened in front of her. Not only was she caught off guard by Lilly's statement, whatever it was that happened was also a little too fast for her to actually notice until just after the fact that it did.

After absentmindedly staring at Tiella's forced smile for a few more seconds, she'd snapped out of her thoughts and adjusted her glasses while clearing her throat—still confused at what had truly happened. "Y-Yes, you're right." She turned and lead the way. "Follow me, please."

"Yes, let's." Tiella happily agreed.

"B-By the way…" Glynda started, "will she be fine?"

With a reassuring smile, "She's a resilient girl and has been through much worse. She'll be fine. I can assure you that she'll be up and about shortly."

"I-I see."

While Tiella closely followed beside Glynda while carrying an unconscious Lilly, Bardel was left standing as he watched the exchange in silence.

 _"Women are annoying and scary."_

He reluctantly followed after them when he saw Tiella giving him an angry look, gesturing to follow with her head before she turned a corner.

"So annoying…" he muttered under his breath.

As they arrived in the Headmaster's office, Glynda going in first, followed by Tiella, plus Lilly in her arms, and finally Bardel who lazily strolled in, more interested in the interior than the person they were supposed to meet.

"Professor Ozpin, Tiella and her group have arrived."

Ozpin took a short moment to look at the two new arrivals before speaking. He first glanced at Bardel, noting a muscular build he'd rarely seen. And when he looked to Lilly who was quietly sleeping in Tiella's arms, he found himself fixated on the girl. Realizing that he'd been caught staring a little longer than necessary by everyone, he responded to Glynda as nonchalantly as he could.

"Thank you for picking them up, Glynda." He slightly bowed his head in greeting while curiously eyeing the sleeping girl, gesturing with his hand at the seats provided. "Please, feel free to take whichever seat you'd like, we have a few drinks as well."

"I'll have the usual, then," Tiella said as she took a seat, seating Lilly upright beside her as she silently dozed off. "Sorry about this girl, she got hit by a fist on the chin so she's kinda out cold right now."

"I feel like I should ask how that fist came flying for her chin," he asked with hands clasped together in front of his face, elbows propped up on his desk.

"There was a mosquito on her chin," Tiella said matter-of-factly.

There was a slight pause as Ozpin took a quick glance at Glynda, noting the subtle confused expression on his assistant's face. "I see."

"Let me introduce them." Tiella held her hand in front of Lilly. "This is," and with the usual accent Lilly uses when saying her name, " _Aliciel Lillianne Le Fiora de La Vernillion_ , just call her Lilly—she'd prefer that."

Glynda and Ozpin raised curious brows while Tiella spoke Lilly's full name, which Tiella graciously answered with a grin. "She likes saying her full name in her country's accent. In my world, she's from a place called France, so she's what you'd call a French person with a French accent. Just think of it as a place so liberal they kiss people as a greeting."

Ozpin shared a glance with Glynda, to which they simply nodded in acknowledgment of the statement despite the questionable cultural difference. Tiella continued her introduction with a hand towards Bardel who was sitting on a chair beside Glynda, arms crossed, yawning in boredom.

"This meathead is Bardel Juno Armas. I'd advise you to keep an eye out for him, he's a battle-hungry maniac and he normally picks random fights without a moment's notice, unless you want dead kids in your school."

"Thanks for the intro, shitface." With an unamused smile.

" _You're_ shitface, shitface."

"That's not really something to joke about," Glynda chimed with a concerned expression.

"I'm just sayin'," Tiella shrugged, "I can say with _100%_ certainty that your students' Aura means jack to him if he felt like it." She grinned, giving Bardel a quick glance before returning a reassuring smile towards Ozpin and Glynda. "Although I say that, he's got good control of his strength on most occasions, so you really just have to worry about him picking fights left and right than actual homicide."

"It feels like only Ms… du La Vernillion?" she asked, repeating the name the way she heard Tiella say it, unsure of how to properly call Lilly.

"Just call her Lilly or Lillianne—either works." She chuckled at Glynda's attempt at a French accent. She thought it was a little cute. "Oh, and, I already demotivated him from picking fights earlier. He wants a good, blood pumping fight, not one hit KO's, which I think is what would happen if you let him face any student here in Beacon."

"Very well," she continued, "it feels like only Ms. Lillianne is the only person who isn't _completely_ dangerous in your team," she spoke in a rather wry expression.

"Oh, don't worry," Tiella grinned even wider, "she's every bit as dangerous as either of us in her own right. Wouldn't have lasted in a team with me and him if she wasn't. More than the two of us combined if she wanted to be, too." She gestured between her and Bardel.

Tiella paused, letting the very subtle threat veiled as a brag sink in, more for Ozpin than Glynda. "But, that's not something you should worry about for as long as we're on good terms."

Ozpin subtly squinted her eyes at Tiella and her friends, noting the way she seemed to exude a sense of complacency she never once had whenever she spoke to him. It was as if she was confident that she, along with her team, could take down Ozpin and Glynda then and there, all things considered.

It made him wonder whether she was actually threatening them intentionally or not.

He looked to Bardel who was just about to doze off in his seat. Just the sight of someone _daring_ to fall asleep in the middle of what could potentially become enemy territory with just the wrong words spoken made him believe that they were truly confident in whatever they believed themselves to be capable of.

Glynda had a confused and concerned look as she glanced between Ozpin and Tiella, noticing the psychological warfare happening between them.

"By the way," Tiella interrupting their thoughts, "could you let them rest for now? They're pretty tired as you can see. Lilly would've woken up by now if she wasn't."

"Are you sure you should be selling your friends to us the way you're doing it right now?" Ozpin asked with a raised brow, his stoic voice never giving away a hint of his true thoughts and emotions.

"It's just a heads up," Tiella shrugged. "I consider myself the least likely person to act up on impulse in this trio despite me being _me_. So, it wouldn't be too far off to think of these two, especially that numbskull dozing off over there, as loose cannons. And in case you're wondering, I don't control them. None of us control each other."

Ozpin took her words into consideration, sending another glance at Bardel who was already asleep in his chair, as well as Lilly who was happily asleep beside Tiella.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." He nodded. "Now, about your report."

"Right, right." Tiella leaned over the table to take the glass of sweet milk Glynda prepared for her. She downed half of it in one gulp and wiped the _milkstache_ over her lips with her thumb before she sucked and licked her thumb clean.

"For starters, the White Fang are a bunch of fucking morons." She pointed out with a raised finger. "They're every bit as subtle as a rhino on a rampage. Even an amateur could easily find whatever the fuck they were up to if they got just a _tiny_ bit lucky in their search."

"What's a rhino?" Glynda asked.

"Don't have those here?" Tiella tilted her head in curiosity. "Well, just think of them as big fat unicorns that could easily topple cars over if they get a running start." Raising another finger, she continued back on track. "Anyway, I was also right when I told you that Torchwick is working with them."

"It was certainly an unlikely scenario considering the White Fang's strong anti-human ideology," Ozpin commented.

"I know, but that's why the Fang and Torchwick were able to get away with whatever the fuck they were doing, because most people wouldn't think to connect the both of them together." She held a finger up on each hand and placed them side by side as she spoke. "Case in point, the VPD." She mocked in dry humor, holding an open palm out in the presentation of her point.

Ozpin nodded in acknowledgment, it also eluded his mind that Torchwick would work with the White Fang until Tiella'd proposed her suspicions to him days ago. "And what have you found?"

"This is just a guess, but I think that with the amount of time and preparation they've been doing in Vale, it's pretty safe to assume that this city's gonna be smack dab in the middle of a nasty civil war for whatever reason—or at least a large scale invasion of sorts."

"Explain."

"Tons and tons of stolen Dust but never touching the money in shops they stole from? It made me think they were doing it as a small mercy, but as stupid as it sounded to me, it also made me think that they were doing it to make sure they could rob the same stores again in the near future. They're making the most of small businesses importing Dust into the city for them to steal as much as they can without much effort on their part."

"I see."

"Now, you tell me, why would an international terrorist organization want to gather _that_ much Dust? And why do it in _Vale?_ Why not in Atlas? Surely there's more Dust there considering the SDC."

"Do you have any proof of your claims?"

"Just the fact that we saw the Fang stealing Dust containers in the port. Everything else is just speculation on my part."

"I see." Ozpin sipped from his mug. "It certainly sounds plausible that they're truly planning something big in Vale, all things considered." He placed his mug on his desk and continued. "What else have you found?"

"Other than my old teammates suddenly appearing _out of fucking nowhere_ in the middle of all that chaos?" Sarcasm oozing out of her tone, facial expression, and body language, "no, not much else. I'd tell you your police force sucks but you probably already know that."

Tiella paused in thought, scrolling through the photos she took in her recon to refresh her memory. Meanwhile, Ozpin was content with simply waiting while Glynda was taking note of the report. Tiella paused mid-scroll to ask a question for Ozpin and Glynda with a tilt her head in confusion, never taking her eyes away from her scroll.

"Does anyone know where these guys get their equipment?"

Ozpin and Glynda shared a look. Glynda looked down in contemplation with a hand on her chin while Ozpin looked up while idly playing with a pen with both hands. After a few seconds of thought, Glynda was the first to answer.

"No, I don't believe we truly do. We have our guesses but we lack the evidence to support them."

"When did you guys start investigating the Fang anyway?"

Ozpin answered, "this would be the first mission into the case."

Tiella pursed her lips and looked to the side in thought with a nod. She licked her lips and once again, mocked in pure sarcasm. "Feels like you just recently lost faith in your police force."

"It's less about losing faith in them and more believing that it's bigger than the VPD can handle by themselves," Ozpin retorted. "As you've reported, a civil war or a large scale invasion isn't something you leave to the police alone." His voice turned a tone lower as he spoke in cold dread. "Especially in this world, anything such as what you've suggested could easily mean Vale being wiped off the map overnight."

Tiella leaned back on her chair with a deep breath. She pursed her lips with a nod, licking her dry lips before lightly biting them while in thought. "Right, Grimm."

Ozpin nodded his head sagely with eyes closed, sighing out in exasperation. He leaned back on his desk with his elbows propped and his hands clasped in front of him again. "That's correct."

"Alright," Tiella nodded, "what's the plan?"

"We gather more intelligence," he stated matter-of-factly.

"You have a place in mind?"

"I was hoping you had leads."

"Well, I don't." She smiled wryly, leaning forward with her elbows atop her knees. She looked back on the sleeping Lilly and pursed her lips. "Maybe if I…" she muttered.

Ozpin and Glynda both rose curious brows at Tiella cutting off mid-sentence.

"No, no… I can't decide for them." She looked to the side with a hand over her mouth in thought. After a moment of contemplation, she sighed and looked back to Ozpin with a retired look. "I've got an idea but I can't really decide without talking to them," she said while pointing at Lilly and Bardel. "So, if you don't mind, could we continue this tomorrow? Just so you know, it involves hiring them, too."

Ozpin and Glynda shared a look. Glynda looked back to Tiella with a stoic look while Ozpin nodded in agreement at Tiella's words. "Very well," Ozpin said, "why don't you let them rest in your old room at the student dorms? Glynda, if you could escort them, please?"

"Sure," Tiella said, immediately carrying Lilly in her arms as she did before.

"As you wish." Glynda nodded, already waiting by the door.

Tiella walked to Bardel and lightly kicked him in the leg to rouse him up. "Hey, dumbass, we have a bed ready for you."

Bardel snapped awake as if he wasn't in deep sleep until just then. He gave Tiella a look and processed her words in his mind before sighing the tension out of his body from suddenly being pulled out of his sleep. He stood from his seat and quickly flicked the finger at Tiella before pocketing both his hands.

Feeling his drowsiness returning to him, he spoke lazily. "Lead the way."

Tiella rolled her eyes and walked to Glynda with a nod.

Glynda bowed to Ozpin. "Have a nice night, Headmaster."

"You as well, ladies, gentleman," he said with a nod.

Glynda exited first, followed by Bardel as Tiella wished to go after him. Just as Tiella was about to close the door behind her, she gave one last scrutinizing glare at Ozpin before leaving. As they all stepped out, Ozpin leaned back in his comfy headmaster chair and checked his scroll.

 _"It seems that she found out about the bug in her scroll. That would explain the hostility in her words."_

He turned his chair to face the window outside, showing him a splendid nighttime cityscape just beyond the lake that reflected the city's dancing lights on the water's surface.

 _"A girl with the ability to not only drain all those around her of their strength and stamina but also the added side effect of attracting Grimm to her and a boy with massive strength who she claims is even more of a loose cannon than she is. Taking into consideration their personalities as I've seen so far,"_ he watched a recorded live feed of the fight that ensued within the docks that he took from the police earlier, " _her… 'threats' aren't mere bluffs. They truly are quite dangerous. Possibly more than we can handle should they become enemies."_

He placed his scroll over his desk and stood from his chair to get closer to the window. He stood with both hands behind him clasped together, his gaze wandering over the dim light of his school's courtyard.

 _"I must handle matters a bit more delicately in the future. I just hope James wouldn't do anything that would put us on bad terms with them. Especially that girl, Aliciel Lillianne Le Fiora de La Vernillion—I could feel it."_

His thoughts returned to just a few minutes ago, at the girl who was sleeping beside Tiella.

 _"Even in her sleep, she was exuding a domineering aura so heavy that it was quite stifling. It was like trying to breathe in glue."_

He peeked into Lilly's soul very subtly that not even Glynda, who one could consider a master at Aura manipulation, didn't notice at the time.

 _"Her soul… was massive and pure. As if her soul was the Sun itself, capable of encapsulating the planet—a truly bottomless potential the likes of which I've never seen in all my years. It was quite hard to stay unflinching as soon as I noticed. The only people that remotely come close are Salem and I and yet, even we are dwarfed by the girl. It's as if… she's more god than man."_

His grip on his hands tightened, thickly swallowing a small lump in his throat as he continued his train of thought.

 _"She's a personage that not even all the world's geniuses combined can even dream of coming close to—an abnormality among all abnormalities. To my mind, she's a human the gods from their world favored far beyond everyone else—it is the only logical explanation for the existence of incredible irrationality. The gods themselves want her to stand at the pinnacle of humanity. I can't risk making an enemy out of her. Perhaps she could…"_

Ozpin stared out into the night, a hope he believed to have lost over the centuries rekindled in his heart. He dialed a number in his scroll and waited for a few seconds for the other end to pick up.

"Hello, James.

Yes.

There's something you and everyone else must know.

It concerns our newest member.

Yes, it's important that you join us at our next meeting.

Very well.

No, no. That would be all.

Thank you for your time, James."

* * *

Tiella laid Lilly in one of the beds while Bardel took the one farthest from Lilly's. Glynda was waiting by the door for Tiella.

Tiella took Lilly's cloak off along with her boots and leaned her weapons on a desk near her bed. Bardel took his shirt off and laid on his back, kicking his boots off.

 _"You were looking for me all this time."_

Tiella placed a gentle hand over Lilly's forehead and watched Lilly's steady breathing with a blank look.

 _"You never gave up, unlike me—resigned to my fate as soon as I got here."_

She idly stroked her thumb on Lilly's forehead before brushing her bangs away and covering her with the blanket.

 _"I was already starting to settle down, preparing for a possible future here in Remnant. I needed to turn over a new leaf and start over as much as I didn't want to… but now that you're here…"_

"Bardy."

"What?"

"No need to stay on guard while you're here. Enjoy your time sleeping on a bed."

Bardel didn't answer immediately, simply looking back at Tiella from his bed with a blank look. He simply nodded before turning to his side with a deep breath.

"Doesn't look like you'll be sleeping here."

"I live with Glynda," she said, almost shyly, "don't tell Lilly that."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I'll pick you guys up first thing in the morning."

Tiella walked to a slightly grinning Glynda and nodded, cueing Glynda to lead the way back to their apartment. Tiella took one last peek into the room before shutting the door softly.

On their way back, Glynda asked in a soft and quiet voice. "Was it necessary for you to threaten Ozpin like that?"

Tiella gave her a quick glance as she walked beside her. "I just found out that he bugged my scroll. I don't appreciate extra layers of invading my privacy when I'm not only under your supervision already but also an almost 24/7 surveillance within school grounds when I _literally_ spend all my time here."

"But is it worth making an enemy out of him, out of us, over it?"

"I had another suspicion…" she sighed, "and it's hopefully just my paranoia acting up, but it's one of the few things that's kept me alive."

Glynda sent her a glance before she asked. "Can you tell me?"

"I know you'll tell Ozpin, too, but I just can't say no to you, you know that?" She smiled wryly, a little disappointed that she was again doing things against her better judgment. She took note of Glynda's pursed lips and unsure expression. "I had a feeling he sent me out on that mission to test my Skill."

Glynda stared for a moment before looking down on the road. She pursed her lips again and looked ahead, "...I see."

Tiella sighed, pocketing both hands while looking away from Glynda. "I'm right… and you knew."

Glynda didn't answer immediately as she chose the right words in her mind. "We... it's not that simple."

"I already agreed with you. I took your words into consideration because I wanted to believe that you wanted to help me. I don't even _know_ Qrow but he was quick to respect my wishes," she said with a hint of frustration in her voice. "I said that I was willing to test my Skill out even when I _vehemently_ told you and Ozpin over and over again that I'd never _ever_ want to, and that all you guys had to do was let me know." Her teeth clenched and her grip tightened from within her pockets as she spoke.

The sound of glass cracking and breaking resounded audibly in the night of Beacon's garden courtyard. Tiella clicked her tongue in irritation as she looked down on her hand. Glynda didn't see what it was, but she did hear Tiella sigh in exasperation.

"Sorry," Tiella said, startling Glynda.

"Shouldn't I be the one to apologize to you?" she asked, worriedly looking at Tiella who still wasn't making eye contact with her.

Tiella paused in her steps and held out her right hand with a blank look on her face. "My scroll broke."

Glynda looked at the bits and pieces of Tiella's scroll on her palm with a surprised expression. She watched as Tiella dusted her hand off nonchalantly while she walked to the nearest garbage bin to dispose of whatever's left of her scroll out of her pocket.

"I didn't mean to." Walking back to her, Tiella spoke in despondency, "just deduct it from my salary." She took Glynda's hand, placed something in her hand and closed it. She smiled casually at her, saying, "I'll buy a new one for personal use." She turned on her heel to lead the way back to their apartment, leaving Glynda where she stood.

Confusedly, Glynda opened her hand and found the bug they put in Tiella's scroll, still in one piece. Her eyes widened as she took a sharp breath, not understanding the hurt she was feeling as she stared at it. With pursed lips, she sent her eyes down and stared at the broken pieces of glass that Tiella dusted off her hand on the ground.

She held the bug tightly in her closed hand and bit her lower lip in frustration. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to apologize, but she felt that it would only be insincere—that it would be nothing more than a formality. She looked ahead, to a corner where Tiella was turning at, feeling quite disappointed in herself.

After a few more seconds of guilty contemplation, Glynda went after Tiella at a faster pace.

When Glynda arrived at their floor, she found Tiella leaning on the wall next to their apartment door, arms crossed in front of her as she waited with a blank look on her face. Tiella met her eyes and she received a casual smile as she pointed at the door with her thumb.

"I don't have a copy of the keys to your apartment." She chuckled.

Glynda walked up to the door while fetching her keys. "You could have opened the door with your scroll, but..." She unlocked the door but she didn't open it immediately. While her eyes pointedly stared at the doorknob and her hands, she spoke to Tiella in a hushed voice.

"I'm sorry."

Tiella tilted her head in confusion but she dismissed the apology with a smile and a wave. "Oh, it's fine. You can just get me a copy whenever you feel like it."

"No, I mean…" Glynda paused, looking up with guilty eyes and pursed lips. She looked away but forced herself to maintain eye contact as she spoke. "...I knew I should've told you, but we weren't sure of whether it was truly necessary for you to do it. That's why we never said anything."

She looked away again, unable to keep looking at the smile Tiella'd been wearing ever since.

"That's okay, Glynda," Tiella reassured with that damned casual smile. "Not your fault," she said, placing a gentle hand on Glynda's shoulder. "So, are we gonna go in or…?" she asked with a raised brow.

"O-oh!" Glynda quickly opened the door. "Of course."

She quickly stepped in and closed the door as soon as Tiella was inside as well. She took her cape off and hung it at the clothes stand behind the front door.

"Have you had dinner?" She asked, quickly moving towards the kitchen.

"I actually haven't, now that I think about it," Tiella answered with a hand on her chin.

"What would you like to eat?"

"I'm good with anything you prepare." She smiled as she followed from behind.

"'Anything' is the worst answer you can say to your chef."

"Oh, I am deeply sorry, madame chef." Deeply bowed with an exaggerated flourish of her hand. "Anything her majesty prepares is a delight to anyone's tongue."

Glynda gave Tiella a half smile as she tried in vain to keep a pout on her face. She put a hand on her waist after wearing her apron. "I'm being serious. I'll cook anything you want tonight."

"In that caaase…" Tiella drawled with pursed lips, "why don't we cook something?"

"Y-You want us to cook together?" she asked incredulously.

"Is that bad?" she asked with a somewhat worried smile.

Glynda stared for a bit before she answered, "N-No… not really. Are you sure?"

Tiella smiled, not the casual smile she hid behind earlier but instead the one Glynda liked seeing, the one she rarely showed. "I know what you're doing, Glynda."

Glynda took a short pause, a little startled at Tiella's sharpness. She should've been used to it by then, but she guessed that two weeks living together wouldn't be enough, and yet, as short a time as it was, she couldn't help but want to become closer with the younger girl.

Seeing as Glynda wasn't going to speak, Tiella continued, taking a few steps closer to her as she dragged her fingers on the dining table.

"You feel guilty," she said, earning a silent stare and pursed lips from the older woman. "So, you want to cook me something I specifically want as an apology." She was standing with her face just inches away from Glynda's as she wore a ravenous expression on her face. And with a lick of her lips, "I could think of another way you can make it up to me…"

Tiella quickly saw the fear and anger passing over Glynda's face as soon as she understood the underlying meaning of her words, so Tiella pulled away with a teasing grin, veiling the slight guilt and fear she felt for taking a joke too far.

" _Juuust_ kidding." She teased with a finger in front of her lips. "I'd never look at you as just a simple piece of meat, Glynda. Don't worry, it was just a bad joke, I'm sorry." She sat on a chair that gave her a good view of Glynda in the kitchen and propped her elbows up for her to rest her chin on her hands. "For dinner, I'd like _your_ version of the Sloppy Tiella." She grinned.

Glynda stared back at Tiella again, choosing to remain silent for a bit as she tried her best to study her younger roommate's expression and intention.

"Very well." She turned and fastened her apron while letting float some of the kitchen utensils she needed for Tiella's request. "A Sloppy Tiella it is, as _disgusting_ as the name sounds."

"Wow, dinner _and_ a show!" Tiella commented teasingly.

"Hmph."

A dozen or so minutes passed and Glynda was finished with her version of the Sloppy Tiella as well as her own dinner, which was a smaller, more tolerable version of the Sloppy Tiella. Instead of a long piece of bun that had all the toppings stacked on it like some sort of slapdash meal you usually find along the highway, Glynda's dinner was more reserved as she made hers as actual normal-sized sandwiches.

"I've never eaten this before," Glynda admitted.

"It's got a strong flavor," Tiella said after a big bite. "Damn, this is better than Mama's."

"I think it'll have more than just _one_ strong flavor," she said, warily scrutinizing her own work before taking a modest bite of it. A couple of modest chewing later, she swallowed with a satisfied nod, proud of her work. "Not bad, not bad at all."

"It's the best." Tiella smiled in all her sloppy glory.

Glynda smiled wryly at the sight, sighing while fetching a table napkin to reach across the table to wipe away the mess on Tiella's lips, much to Tiella's pleasant surprise. Tiella held Glynda's wrist as she was still wiping her face with the napkin, making Glynda look at her in confusion. She stared back, an intense yearning look appeared in her eyes. She gently took the napkin out of Glynda's hand as she fought with all her might and willpower the desire in her to just pull Glynda closer and kiss her across the table. She smiled instead, wiping whatever was left on her face before drinking her glass of water to help down her meal.

Glynda, meanwhile, was absentmindedly holding onto the wrist Tiella touched. Realizing that she still had food left on her plate, she continued her meal as Tiella watched her eat since she was already done.

"How's Team RWBY, by the way?" Tiella asked as she took small sips of her water.

Glynda drank a bit and wiped her lips before answering. "They're fine. Ms. Belladonna is resting in her dorm along with Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Schnee. Ms. Rose, however, is sleeping in the infirmary. Our doctor's making sure she's being properly nursed back to health."

" _We have a school doctor?_ "

"Yes, we do."

" _Where the fuck_ was he when Cardin and I got knocked out?"

"Away from school grounds in Vale Medical Center." She took a bite and answered shortly after. "Since most of the injuries that happen within the school can simply be healed after a night's rest through the help of Aura, it would be a waste to have one on the clock."

"Makes sense." She sipped. "So, how's Little Rose?"

"Little Rose?"

"Ruby."

"Ah." She nodded. "The Aura transfusion that Ms. Belladonna provided her saved her life just in the nick of time before things took a turn for the worse. Right now, she's simply resting after a blood transfusion for the amount she lost."

"That's good to know."

"She should be up and about tomorrow, though I think Dr. Sola wouldn't let her go for at least 2 more days."

"Better safe than sorry, I guess."

"That's right."

After dinner, Glynda was on her scroll again in her usual spot and pose by the couch in the middle of the living room. Tiella just took a quick shower to wash away the sweat of the day's work and was headed for her room when she heard Glynda call for her from behind.

"What's up?" Tiella asked while drying her hair with a towel, turning her head to meet Glynda. Her hair was down and she was wearing a yellow XL-sized plain T-shirt over her underwear as she got out of the bath.

She found Glynda sitting a little squirmish on the couch, her eyes looking back and forth from her and some other place in the living room.

"W-Would you mind sitting with me for a little while? I have something I want to… _discuss_ with you."

Tiella looked back at her with eyebrows raised. She wordlessly took a seat on a chair next to the couch Glynda was on, however, Glynda cleared her throat and tapped the place next to her as she avoided eye contact with her. The act made her pause as she tried to understand Glynda's intentions, although she was unable to form anything coherent in her mind, surprised as she was already. Her thoughts raced for all sorts of possible outcomes to whatever it was that Glynda wanted.

After a bit, Tiella took the seat next to Glynda and patiently waited for her to speak up as her heart began hammering in her chest.

"What is it?" Tiella asked after swallowing a lump in her throat.

Without looking, Glynda asked. "H-How was your mission?"

"It was okay." Tiella avoided eye contact as well. "Nothing too hard. Feels like I only did well because the White Fang is a bunch of amateurs. Which is mostly true for any international terrorist organization, I suppose."

"I see."

"The hardest part of my mission was knocking Bardel out, I guess."

"Knocking him out? Why would you need to do that?"

"He was destroying the port in an attempt to catch Torchwick."

"Ah."

"I'm no expert on Dust, but aren't they highly volatile? I can only imagine the port disappearing from Vale had there been one wrong move with how there were tons of Dust containers being recklessly handled at the time."

"That's very true, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Southern Port of Vale would indeed be gone quickly followed by something _much worse_."

"Grimm again?"

"Grimm again."

There was an awkward silence shared between them as they had not much else to talk about. Tiella kept stealing glances at Glynda while Glynda was pointedly keeping her eyes on her scroll as she worked. Glynda suddenly placed her scroll down on the coffee table in front of them and kept her eyes in front of her, stealing a few glances back at Tiella who was now looking at her in curiosity.

Glynda cleared her throat and spoke with a hint of nervousness in her voice. "Ms. Lillianne told me earlier that…"

The words Tiella heard put her mind in a state of nervousness as well, heart thumping loudly in her chest as an anxious smile appeared on her face. And as Glynda continued, the beating only grew louder.

"...that you're… well, you're ' _deeply in love with me_ ', is that true?"

And Tiella's heart stopped.

 _Nearly_ stopped.

After hearing no answer for the next few seconds, Glynda finally looked at Tiella and saw how she was simply looking at her with a weird smile on her deeply flushed face.

"Tiella?"

Tiella looked away, lips pursed as she tried her damnedest to keep her smile up—looking back and forth between Glynda and some other part of the room. She shook her head sideways a few times but she immediately bit her lips and nodded a few, unable to voice her answer as the redness in her cheeks deepened further.

Glynda felt amused at the sight, the normally so cheeky, _so_ witty Tiella turned to a mute _mush_ when confronted about her feelings for her.

 _"So it_ _ **is**_ _, true? She doesn't just think of this, of me, as some fling?"_

With a small, high pitched voice, Tiella finally spoke. "...yes."

Glynda felt her cheeks flush from the answer. It was an odd sight to see Tiella acting so pure and so coy.

"Since when?" Glynda asked in eagerness, not realizing the small smile appearing on her face.

"S-Since when?" Tiella asked incredulously, eyes racing everywhere and nowhere as she did her best _not_ to look at Glynda but kept failing as she kept on stealing glances every few seconds. "What the hell kinda question is- I mean- wha-... I don't even-"

She took a deep breath with closed eyes as Glynda watched in amusement, waiting for a proper answer. "P-probably the night I jokingly proposed to you. I don't know- I don't care- I-... I don't see how this is impo-"

Tiella was shut up by a hand on her cheek, eyes wide as she traced the arm back to Glynda, finding a teasing smile aimed at her. Tiella felt Glynda gently pulling her head closer, confused as her mind went into overdrive at whatever Glynda wanted to do. She closed her eyes, unable to look anywhere without tracing it back to Glynda's gorgeous pair of emerald eyes and luscious lips.

She felt her body being gently laid on the couch with a warm and soft pillow for her head. She felt a hand gently stroking her fringes away to reveal more of her face into the open. Curious about her current orientation, she opened her eyes and was immediately greeted by a softly blushing and smiling Glynda looking down on her.

" _A-A lap pillow!? Is she giving me a lap pillow right now!? A_ _ **fucking**_ _lap pillow!? Am I gonna die!? Can I die in this lap pillow!? Please, if there's an actual higher power up there, please grant my one and only wish. I want my last moments to be a lap pillow from Glynda, please."_

"You're wearing a funny face right now," Glynda commented as she watched the goofy smile on Tiella's face.

"D-D-D-D-Don't look at my face!" She covered her face with both hands. "That's _illegal!_ "

"Is it, now?"

"It _is_ , now!"

Glynda chuckled, while it was true that anything involving Tiella had recently become her most common reason for being annoyed and irate (more so than her students), it was also true that she had more lighthearted and relaxed times with her compared to a lot of her colleagues, Ozpin excluded. And that did wonders to her stress levels. She greatly appreciated it, although she didn't normally show it.

Tiella turned to her side and felt her left cheek touch the skirt that clung to Glynda's thighs and immediately she was assaulted by butterflies in her stomach among many other things that left her very hot and bothered.

In an attempt to get her mind out of the gutter, she asked Glynda. "W-Why are you even doing this? I thought you didn't think anything of my advances… and now you're giving me a lap pillow and stroking my hair and giving me butterflies in my stomach and your lap feels _so goddamn_ _ **nice**_ and I should shut up—"

Glynda giggled, another rarely seen or heard act from the normally so strict and stern Deputy Headmistress and Professor of Combat in the ever so prestigious Beacon Academy. Tiella didn't know yet, but it was an honor that not just anyone got to see, either up close or far away—and even more so for being the reason for it.

" _That's_ why." Glynda continued gently caressing Tiella's hair, taking the opportunity to stare long and deep into the enigmatic otherworlder's bright pools of gold that stared back at her in confusion—the fierce shape of her eyes only adding more instead of detracting from her naturally cool beauty.

Glynda's smile turned sad as she spoke, the shift in tone to a duller mood obvious to Tiella's ears. "I wanted to properly apologize to you." She looked ahead and to the side, absentmindedly glancing from one part of the room to another. "While it's true that we did wish to test your Skill, we only would've ordered for it should things have gone awry or for the worst case scenario. The true reason for sending you out on the mission was because Ozpin felt that the VPD isn't enough to handle the case any longer and that it was to double as a test for your skills as a mercenary. We've only ever seen you fight in spars and against common Grimm, after all."

Glynda took a deep breath, sighing before she continued. "You could easily become a Contract Huntress, going from village to village, solving Grimm problems one after another, earning meager pay from quests like some adventurer. But in Ozpin's circle, simply being good at fighting and slaying Grimm isn't enough."

She felt Tiella shift on her lap, so she sent her gaze down and met knowing eyes, quietly listening to her as she continued. "Had you done poorly in that mission, we would have kept sending you on other missions to learn more about your strengths and weaknesses."

With a nonplussed expression, Tiella asked. "How'd I do, then?"

"You passed, of course." She smiled. "Everything you found was in line with what we've previously discovered, even your assumption that the White Fang may be preparing for a large scale operation in the near future within Vale, which was the most important part."

Her face turned slightly stern, her face as a professor showing itself for a bit. "But of course, we want to be sure. So, this time, we'll be sending you out as an escort to a team of 2nd years out for an expedition within the coming weeks in the 2nd term. We want to know whether you're capable of protecting people while under a lot of pressure, so you can expect this next one to be far more hectic than before."

Glynda smiled a little sadly again, something Tiella was beginning to notice that only appeared whenever it concerned her Skill. "Of course, do expect to be ordered to use your Skill should things go awry or when the worst case scenario comes. We understand the heavy consequences of your Skill, probably more than you do at the moment, and we're willing to trust that you'll know what to do should the time come."

Tiella laughed dryly. "That's a lot of trust for someone you just met two weeks ago." She scratched her cheek as another blush spread after realizing what she'd just said. "Though, I guess I shouldn't be talking."

"You always speak in the most roundabout way, taking delight in confusing whoever you're talking to with your sarcasm, which, admittedly, can be quite exhausting at times," Glynda said with a wry smile and a roll of her eyes, earning a chuckle from Tiella. "So, imagine _my_ delight," she leaned her face closer, leaving just a scant amount of centimeters between them. "when I found out that you're actually _quite_ easy to read as long as I focus on your expressions instead."

Tiella pouted as she looked to the side, arms crossed as her blush deepened in shade while she muttered her retort. "Yeah, whatever, okay. So, why the lap pillow? N-Not that I _hate_ it."

Glynda smiled, a warm smile—one that even Tiella found to be quite rare—before it turned into a teasing half-smile, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks that made Tiella wonder if it was just light makeup or something else.

"You like looking at my legs, don't you?"

Tiella squinted her eyes as she bit her lip even more, angrily staring back at Glynda while the person herself took great amusement in watching her. That was, until an idea struck her.

"You know," she grinned, regrettably sitting up from the heavenly lap pillow she'd been content to enjoy for as long as she could. "I've been on the receiving end of the teasing this _entire_ night, not just from you, but from Lilly, _too_ , and I don't like it."

Glynda's smile had a hint of fear into it as she watched Tiella's grin turn big and wide.

"I _don't_ like it at all," she said as she inched closer to Glynda, crawling until she was on top of her on the couch.

"T-Tiella, l-let's calm down, now…"

"But I don't _want_ to calm down." Tiella's eyes gleamed as if she was a predator looking at prey. Glynda curled into a ball in defense, heart thumping loudly in her chest as she stared back at the younger girl holding herself up with her arms almost wrapping around her waist.

"I think…" Tiella slowly lowered herself until she was just inches from Glynda's right ear. "...that a little bit of _payback_ would be fine," she said in her sultry voice, her warm breath gently blowing over Glynda's slowly reddening ear. " _no…?_ "

Glynda found her right hand being gently pried open by Tiella's, slowly intertwining their fingers until they were firmly clasped together. Tiella moved her face to meet Glynda's expectant gaze, and with hesitant eyes, she stared back into emeralds.

She whispered ever so softly, a tinge of her anxiety leaking for every word spoken. "Is it okay…?" Worried eyes hoping to be stopped while she still could. "I'm about to do something against my better judgment again… and it's all because you suddenly gave me hope."

Glynda whispered in return, tone sounding a little disappointed. "Will you regret it…?"

Tiella slightly hung her head low, her fringes blocking her eyes out of Glynda's view. "I can't say for sure… I just might love it _so_ much that I won't care at all." She raised her head, a pair of morose yellow, meeting confused green. "But I'm positive that it'll affect my decisions in the future."

Glynda slowly wrapped her arms around Tiella's neck. "Then…" Pulling her closer until she could whisper in her ear. "...why don't I help you decide when the time comes?"

Tiella's eyes went wide as she bit her lip, her will to go against what her emotions were telling her was on its last dredges. She moved her head away to see Glynda's face and she found her biting her lower lip as she stared back at her with an expectant gaze.

The sight of it drove all her remaining willpower away, and it made her dive in for a kiss long since yearned for. Eyes closed as she focused on the feeling of her lips locking with the one person she'd been wanting. Deep and passionate, their bodies moved in a rhythmic motion, each one pushing into each other, trying to dominate and lead as they wanted. And yet, they never felt more in tune with one another.

The kiss felt like it was too long and too short—long as it lasted for dozens of seconds, yet short as they both felt like it was stopped too early.

They both gasped for air, breathing a little heavily while the passion in their eyes never wavered. Tiella was the first to speak, a ravenous smile spreading across her face.

"You don't know how long I've been _wanting_ to do that."

Glynda grinned, pulling Tiella close as she leaned in to whisper. "Actually, I do, you serial kissing drunk."

Tiella laughed, resting her forehead on Glynda's shoulder. "Alright, you got me," she admitted, earning a laugh from Glynda as well.

"You're not allowed to kiss anyone else from now on."

"I wouldn't want to kiss anyone else anyway."

Tiella took Glynda's hand and moved aside to sit on the opposite armrest of the couch. She pulled Glynda along and turned her around so she could have Glynda rest the back of her head on her chest. She wrapped her arms over Glynda's shoulders and sighed in contentment.

"It feels weird to be sitting like this."

"You don't like it?"

"I do, it's just… as the older between us, I feel like I should be the one embracing you from behind."

Tiella rested her chin atop Glynda's head. "Well, too bad. I did it first."

They stayed their embrace in satisfied silence, content with simply feeling each other's warmth for as long as they could. A few minutes later, Glynda asked with a worried tone.

"Are you sure you're fine with me…?" she voiced weakly. "I'm older than you, and I'm a teacher, too."

"That's the best part," Tiella answered immediately with a grin, though it was quickly replaced by a smile both anxious and self-deprecating smile. "I should be the one asking you that." she pulled away from the embrace, spreading her arms over the armrest, away from Glynda.

"What do you mean…?" Glynda turned to meet Tiella's anxious eyes.

She looked down and away in shame, unable to look Glynda straight in the eyes as she spoke with a voice devoid of any emotion. "I'm a murderer."

"..."

"A soldier of fortune."

"..."

"I've killed people for personal reasons, too."

"..."

Tiella felt Glynda move away from her, and she felt a cold, stinging pain in her chest when she did. "It's why I told you I'm doing things against my better judgment…" She looked up to see Glynda sitting on the opposite side of the couch, her back resting on the armrest the way as well. "Because I _know_ you can do so much better than me. I'd say I'm on the _goddamn bottom rung_ if we're talking standards, too."

Tiella stood from the couch slowly and took a few steps towards her bedroom door. "It was nice while it lasted," she said softly, her voice soft and weak, as she stole one last glance at Glynda before she opened the door to her room.

Suddenly, she felt a familiar sensation wrap around her, one that she hadn't felt since she first arrived in Remnant. Her body was wrapped in a violet glow as she was lifted up into the air.

"W-whoa!" Tiella looked back on Glynda's blank face with fear in her eyes. "D-Don't throw me out the window! M-Mercy-!"

As she was suddenly moving fast in the air, she closed her eyes and prepared herself for a bumpy landing but instead all she felt was a soft and gentle warmth, and that it was slowly wrapping around her shoulders. She opened her eyes to take a peek and there she saw her face buried in Glynda's chest. She looked up and found Glynda with tears slowly racing down her cheeks.

"Is _that_ why?" she asked, voice soft and breaking. "Is _that_ why I keep seeing you looking _so_ sad and guilty whenever you think no one is watching you?" she held Tiella tighter in her embrace as she placed her chin atop her head.

Tiella took a sharp breath, surprised at what she'd heard. She didn't ever think anyone saw those moments. But what surprised her the most was how she was being embraced—instead of being thrown away like she expected—instead, she was held in such warm affection.

"Did you think _I_ wouldn't notice? Did you think I wouldn't _know?_ I'm paid to be observant! I'm a teacher! I watch out for my students' well being! I find the smallest problems arising from the simplest things they do!"

Glynda slightly pushed Tiella off to look her in the eyes as she continued. "And you _live_ with me! I can't help but notice these things even if I don't want to! And that's the thing! I _want_ to notice you!" She pulled Tiella close again for another tight embrace. "I've grown to want you, too."

Tiella was on the verge of tears as well. She let herself be embraced closer as she wrapped her arms around Glynda's waist, her hands gripping tight onto Glynda's clothes.

She loved it so much—she missed it too dearly.

The warmth of someone else by her side.

Using them as a pillow, mixing her scent with theirs.

Burying her face in their chest, listening to the beating of their heart and the sound of their breathing as they pet her head.

Dozing off, knowing she's safe, watching over her, protecting her…

"Glynda…?"

Glynda sniffed, wiping a few droplets off her cheeks. "What is it?"

"You should already know that I'm not a fan of sap-fests."

"Well," Glynda chuckled, wiping another tear away. "too bad. Because that's what I like in a lover."

"Is it really okay?"

"It is."

"You don't hate me?"

"I don't hate you."

"I've killed people."

"I know."

"I did it for money."

"I know."

"I did it for revenge, too."

"It's okay."

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't matter—not anymore."

"I took lives away, don't they matter?"

"It's a past you're willing to spend the rest of your life atoning for, isn't it?"

"..."

"I'll be with you."

"..."

"I'll hold you just like this, whenever you're feeling sad and lonely."

"I don't deserve these moments."

"Yes, you do."

"I don't deserve a happy life after taking other people's happiness away."

"Everyone deserves a second chance."

"I can't have you."

"Yes, you can. And I'm already here for you."

"You don't understand..."

"And I won't pretend like I do."

"So, why? Why are you doing this? Why not just throw me away and leave me be?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I wanna hear it."

"I thought you didn't like ' _sap-fests_ '?"

"...this time is an exception."

Glynda giggled and pulled away from the hug as she cupped Tiella's cheeks with her hands. There she saw eyes teary and red at the lids, much like hers. She gently pulled her up and closer to herself for a kiss—locking her lips with Tiella's for a scant moment.

She pulled away from the kiss, touching her forehead with Tiella's and whispered, "I love you." as she listened to Tiella quietly sobbing.

"I don't believe you," Tiella muttered while wiping her tears away. "I remember chasing after you all this time and then you turn it around on me. I want more proof you actually love me."

Glynda sighed in fake exasperation. She leaned her face closer again for another kiss, though instead of the lips, she aimed for Tiella's left cheek.

"There."

"Another."

So she kissed the other cheek as well.

"Again."

And her forehead.

"Again."

And her nose.

"You know what I want." Tiella pouted. "Don't make me beg."

Glynda chuckled again and touched her forehead and nose with Tiella's. "Don't worry," she did a quick peck on Tiella's lips. "you don't have to."

Tiella dived in for a quick deep kiss before she pulled away with a big grin. "I love you, too."

* * *

AN: Hello again!

I don't know what I did. I don't even know how to react to what I did.

Did I go overboard? Was it too fast? Too cheesy? Was it from way out of left field? I don't know how to write these things and it's my first time writing something like this and I just-

Just-

Just criticize me for it, my body is ready for your reviews. Shower me in complaints if you must.


	24. Chapter 24

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I can't believe listening to love songs and duets for 2 weeks straight did the trick for me. All those romance mangas, light novels, and movies until now helped, too. Thank you, pop media and kinky and obscure literature from Japan._

 _I'd like to give a special thanks to the songs and their respective artists—I've even learned to sing them along the way!_

 _Because, I'll be honest, I have very little love experience to go about. It's why I was so nervous posting that chapter up._

 _Honestly, who'd a thunk? I'm a little bit of a hikikomori—I only go out when I need to, so I consider that an achievement!_

 _Maybe I should rewrite Watching Sunsets now… hmm._

 _A topic for another time._

 _By the way, because of the amount of swear words in the previous chapter, I've bumped the rating back to M. One of you told me that the more common swear words are in a fic, the higher its rating should become, and because Tiella isn't the only one with the colorful language anymore, I think that this is only right. Better safe than sorry._

 _Anyway! Thanks so much for the wonderful reception. Enough of the sap-fest, let's go to chapter 24!_

* * *

In the early morning within Glynda's apartment, Tiella woke up on the couch with a blanket loosely draped over her as she laid down on her side.

She smelled something appetizing, eggs and bacon, she guessed, as well as some coffee and milk.

With her appetite stimulated, she roused herself awake with her fingers and thumb rubbing the drowsiness away from her eyes as she sat upright. She stretched her arms, back, and neck outward while letting out a lazy yawn. She glanced around the room and felt weirdly out of place.

 _"Why am I in the living room?"_

She let her eyes wander until she found Glynda in her apron by the kitchen, utensils, and condiments floating around her and all.

 _"Glynda's cooking? What time is it anyway?"_

The clock atop the desk showed 5:55 am, just a tad earlier than her usual wake up time.

"Good morning, Tiella."

Her voice felt odd to Tiella's ears as if it had a tiny singing tune added to it as Glynda spoke every word. While still confused, she lazily stood from the couch and folded the blanket neatly, placing it back on the cough before taking a seat at the dining table.

"Good morning," she mumbled, dangling her head sideways with eyes half closed.

She took her long, unruly red mane and held it into a ponytail with her hand as she copped her pockets for a hair string or pin, but all she felt were the skin on her thighs and the red underwear she was wearing.

 _"Well, that's just peachy."_

So instead, she used her hair to tie her hair into a ponytail, not wanting to bother herself with standing up again to grab one in her room.

She laid her chin atop her hands clasped together as she propped her elbows on the table, curiously watching Glynda cook without taking a step away from where she stood. She watched with a smile on her face, butterflies in her stomach giving her jitters as she took the whole scene in and burned it into her memory.

"I had the weirdest dream."

"What was it about?" Glynda asked without looking back.

"I kissed you… and you kissed me back," she said with a teasing grin on her face.

And with a smug grin of her own, Glynda looked back at Tiella. "Did you cry in my arms again and then I kissed you some more in that dream?"

"Wha-!?" Surprised, Tiella nearly stood from her chair as she audibly placed her palms flat on the table as a deep blush appeared on her face. "H-How did you know!?"

Glynda turned her body to the side as she held a finger pointed at Tiella. Glynda flourished her finger upwards and a violet glow wrapped her body, raising her off the table, pulling her closer towards Glynda for a short and sweet kiss on the lips before she was plopped back down on her seat as her face had turned completely red—the most dumbfounded and goofiest smile plastered on her face.

Glynda took great amusement as she watched Tiella open and close her mouth like a fish out of water, hands running over her face and hair as she tried and failed to form coherent words while staring back at Glynda with eyes wide as saucers.

With a chuckle, Glynda turned most of her attention back to her cooking.

 _"She's such an airhead sometimes, it's so cute."_

"I think I quite enjoy kissing you," Glynda commented without looking back. "especially since it shuts you up instantly—because, do you realize how talkative you can be?"

Still unable to form coherent words _or_ thoughts, she just ran her fingers over her lips, remembering the feeling of Glynda's on her own.

Glynda carried two plates in her hands as other plates, glasses, and mugs floated around her. She walked to the table and set their breakfast up, idly moving Tiella's chair backward with her Telekinesis as well before pulling her back towards the table.

She took a seat across Tiella like she usually would, and immediately the small smile on her face grew wider as Tiella still hadn't gotten over the kiss.

 _"The way she reacts is quite flattering."_

"Tiella."

Startled out of her reverie, "Y-Yo? Uh… w-what's up?"

"Are you okay?" Glynda asked teasingly.

"No, probably… not?" she said in confusion. She was absentmindedly running her fingers on her lips again. "I'm just so happy? And confused? And… is this real?" she was breathing heavily while excitedly gesturing between her and Glynda with her hands. "I-... I'm not dead, am I?"

"Tiella, are you actually okay?" Glynda asked with actual concern, reaching a hand across the table to take Tiella's.

Tiella, so surprised by the act, hadn't noticed that she'd stopped breathing as she slowly held a shaky finger up, face confused as ever while looking between Glynda's face and her hand.

"Last night wasn't a dream?"

Glynda's face was dumbfounded for a second, before it turned into disbelief, and finally into a wry yet warm smile.

"No, silly, it wasn't."

Greatly surprised in the most pleasant way, Tiella unknowingly smiled from ear to ear. She quickly took Glynda's extended hand into her own two hands and leaned on the table.

"Can you kiss me again?"

"Will it shut you up so we can begin eating?"

"But you love it when I talk, don't you?"

"Mmm…" Glynda thought for a few seconds, looking up as she adjusted her glasses. "Perhaps?"

"Why did you have to pause and think?"

"Are you going to come up with any and all excuses just to get a kiss from me starting now?"

Tiella flushed lightly, unable to look Glynda in the eyes as she pursed her lips.

"That's what I thought," Glynda said with a look. And she kept giving Tiella the look until Tiella realized that she had to let go of Glynda's hand, which she did hesitantly.

"Now, eat," Glynda said as she took her spoon and fork. "We need to continue our meeting last night with Ozpin as soon as we can, so you'll need to get your teammates right after we eat. I'll go on ahead and prepare for the meeting."

"Alright, alright."

Tiella quietly but pleasantly ate with Glynda, a contented mood surrounding them as they both shared the moment. They were still a little embarrassed with one another, however, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. Whenever their eyes met, Tiella would give Glynda a shy smile while Glynda would respond with an eye roll and a small smile of her own.

It was honestly fucking nauseous being in the same room as these two, but I'm just the narrator, what say do I have, right?

 _"Hey, asshole. Do your fucking job and narrate my life properly."_

Whatever, moving on.

After breakfast, Glynda stood from her chair and pulled all the clean plates into the dishwasher. Tiella went to her room to get changed before sending a message to Yang about how she was gonna miss this morning's routine but that they shouldn't skip out or slack on it just because she wasn't there. She had Velvet to keep an eye on them, after all.

Tiella was in a dark red dress shirt, sleeves rolled up to just below her elbows, buttons did as per usual with a gold-colored necktie hanging loosely around her collar. She wore black skinny slacks paired with black leather shoes.

She gave herself a quick once-over and nodded in satisfaction. However, as she was about to step out of her room, she had a weird feeling wash over her that made her look back at her closet. Particularly, the drawer where she put her knives and guns.

She looked at her open palms and noticed how they were damp with sweat. With eyes sent down, she went in deep thought, considering following her gut feeling or not. After a moment of contemplation, she decided to follow her gut and took one pistol with her, one from the Badabing pair. She took her belt holster as well.

She switched to her combat boots and wore her fingerless tactical glove on her right hand with Pepper on her left.

After another once-over, she stepped out of the room and found Glynda waiting for her by the hall leading out.

"Expecting a physical confrontation?" Glynda eyed Tiella's equipment with a raised brow and an adjustment of her glasses.

"Just a feeling that something's about to go down today, hopefully, I'm wrong," she said as she idly rubbed her hands together, remembering the damp feeling in them from earlier.

As if on cue, a loud explosion was heard from outside.

Glynda and Tiella shared looks, each nodding at the unspoken agreement to rush towards the source of the boom. As the rushed out, they both saw a large crowd in front of the cafeteria, as well as a sizeable dust cloud slowly settling all the while bouts of shouting, was heard.

Glynda yelled with a stern expression, "Students! Make way!" and so did the students follow as soon as they heard who made the order.

Beside her, Tiella uneasily wrapped her hand over the gun she holstered behind her. Tense as she was, she had a feeling that it was going to be a scene she was already used to seeing.

When they got close at the base of the dust cloud, they kept hearing a man shouting in anger and indignation. Tiella raised a hand in front of Glynda to stop her from going further before she went in, pistol already cocked and loaded in her right hand.

"COME ON, ASSHOLE, IS THAT ALL YOU GOT!? BRING YOUR ENTIRE FUCKING CLAN WITH YOU AND FIGHT ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT!"

"Bardy! Calm down! You just did everything Tielle specifically told you _not_ to do last night!"

 _"Jesus Christ, I knew it."_

Exasperated already, Tiella watched Lilly holding Bardel back with all her might, her face contorted in pain as she struggled, muscles rippled and feet buried deep in the concrete pathway that leads towards the cafeteria.

"HE WANTS A FIGHT, HE'LL GET A GODDAMN FIG-"

Unable to hear any more shouting, she wordlessly shot Bardel at point blank range on the side of his head, a loud, ear-popping sound followed as blood spurted, knocking him sideways, and tripping Lilly along the way.

"Woah!" Lilly yelled in surprise as she fell on top Bardel.

Tiella, in all her intense vexation, looked around and found a giant crater where the statue used to be, earth gouged deep while the glass windows from the cafeteria that was at least a few dozen meters where the crater was were all shattered and broken.

"You killed Bardy!"

"Shut it—it's just 7 in the goddamn morning and you're already sinking me neck deep up shit creek."

It was like a scene of what would happen if someone detonated a bomb within school grounds.

She glanced to her right and saw the same punk that picked a fight with her almost two weeks ago, Leon Springfield, as well as what seemed to be the rest of his teammates, cowering in fear and shock as they stared in a daze from the ground.

"I'm _already-!_ " Tiella took another shot at the already downed Bardel, causing more blood to spray violently.

"Fucking _tired!_ "

And another.

"Of your _shit!_ "

And another.

"When it's been less than a day!"

And another.

"Since we met again!"

And another.

"Jackass!"

And another.

The scene horrified everyone that watched, a murder scene just happened in front of them and the perpetrator was the Professional Bully herself.

"Umm, Tielle?"

"What!?"

"I think you might actually end up killing him."

"I'll stick a popsicle as his gravestone and write ' _I'm a fucking idiot, please piss on my grave_ ' since he already dug one out in the middle of the goddamn school anyway!" she said as she reloaded her pistol to took more shots at the lifeless body on the ground, a puddle of blood forming around him.

And abruptly, Bardel stood upright, fury burning in his eyes as he glared at Tiella. He spat out blood and stood.

"What the hell!?"

The scene of a deadman standing back up surprised the crowd as they all gasped in fear and confusion.

"You fucking dumbass!" Tiella stomped forward, glaring down on Bardel who stood a head smaller than her.

"What the fuck's your problem!?" he yelled back, spreading his arms open threateningly.

"You're my fucking problem!" she yelled back, "I already told you not to fight the kids here! They just might fucking die!"

"I'm the one bleeding heavily from holes you gave me, asshole!"

"Serves you right, jackass!"

"Bitch!" Bardel pulled his arm back, the tension in not only his body rising but also the air that was surrounding them as the crowd feared that even the Professional Bully wouldn't go unscathed if the same explosive _punch_ that started all this was aimed at her.

"Cunt!" Unperturbed, Tiella was already mid-swing of her own punch, a sharp left hook going for Bardel's chin, carrying as much rotational force as she could muster.

" _That's enough!_ "

Their punches missed each other, Bardel's missing Tiella by a hair's breadth as his fist hurtled past the side of her head while Tiella's was sent down ever so slightly as to not hit Bardel's chin.

Tiella's punch blew air away with enough force to dissipate the dust cloud, and even Leon who was still sitting on his ass by the side felt the wind that was carried along with it.

Bardel's punch blew shockwaves in the air as debris, grass, flowers, and even trees from _dozens_ of meters away swayed as his punch was launched. It had enough force to push the crowd by a few steps backward—even Glynda had to put up a barrier to keep herself from being pushed back.

In between them, Lilly stood with both hands holding the two's wrists away from each other, a stern look on her face appeared before she took a deep breath and sweep kicked both Tiella and Bardel off their feet. She ax kicked Bardel on the stomach, causing him to land on the ground as cracks formed under him while she threw Tiella over her shoulder at Bardel, deepening and enlarging the cracks even more.

"You're both just escalating the problems you already created!" She scolded, arms crossed as she tapped her foot impatiently. "Tielle! What did you come here for if you were just gonna take Bardy's baits!?"

"I was gonna knock him out again, _goddamnit!_ " Tiella groaned.

"And Bardy! I know that that guy was getting on your nerves, but you shouldn't take fights left and right! We're _not_ from here and we _aren't_ in a warzone anymore!"

"He was asking for it!"

"And I'm asking you to drop it!"

Lilly sighed with her head hung low and a hand over her forehead. She took a look at the dazed Leon and his knocked out teammates behind him before she walked towards him and offered a hand to pull him up.

"I'm really sorry about Bardy, okay? He's a good person but his temper is _very_ short and he is _always_ eager for a fight."

And as if he was blessed by the gods, Leon saw the image of an angel demurely brushing her hair behind her right ear as she extended a hand with a gentle and apologetic smile to help him up the ground. He dazedly took the hand that was offered and stood.

"It's good that you're eager, too, but be mindful of your words next time, okay?" She lightly scolded, a finger held up against him. "Calling someone's mother who you've only just met a ' _slut_ ' isn't nice at all!"

His heart skipped a beat and he was hard of breathing. The combination of _beautiful_ , _sexy_ , and _cute_ all mixed to perfection in one package stood in front of him. His face was flushed and his mouth agape as he stared in a daze at the angel scolding him.

And if he remembered correctly, she was _strong_ , too.

She was holding back the monster that destroyed the courtyard with one punch, even if she was struggling, after all.

Lilly let out a small sigh of amusement after recognizing the look Leon was giving her.

 _"Another one."_

She smiled teasingly and skipped back to help Bardel up. Then, she gave Leon one quick glance before wrapping her arms around Bardel.

"What?" was all Bardel could say.

"Let's go patch you up, Bardy." She smiled wide, then she looked to Tiella and asked, "could you lead us to the infirmary?" She saw the irritated look Tiella gave her, so she gave her a stern eye that didn't carry the smile she was wearing.

Reluctantly, Tiella obliged. She looked back to speak with Glynda but was astonished when she saw the destroyed courtyard was already halfway restored while Glynda was brandishing her riding crop around.

"Oookay…" She was dumbfounded with a hand on her waist.

Meanwhile, Lilly was watching in pure wide-eyed fascination with her mouth agape while Bardel was wondering if he could have a go against Glynda.

"I was worried about having to pay for all the damages, guess not, huh?" Tiella commented as she walked towards Glynda while she finished.

Glynda turned to face Tiella with a sharp look. She adjusted her glasses while giving a passing glance at Lilly and Bardel.

"The meeting will have to be moved until later in the afternoon." Glynda walked passed Tiella and spoke in a loud and clear voice. "Students! The show's over! Go back to your dorms and prepare for your classes!"

And as the students dispersed as she ordered, Glynda called a certain name to attention.

"Mr. Springfield."

Leon stopped in his tracks with a nervous look on his face. He turned to see Glynda fiercely glaring at him while adjusting her glasses. He reluctantly walked over to Glynda while avoiding eye contact.

"Can you please tell me what happened?"

Leon tried meeting Glynda's eyes, though as soon as he did, he was shaken up to the very core by a piercing glare. He felt his knees tremble at the sight.

Tiella watched from behind in amusement and yet, there was a predatory gleam in her eyes as she stared at Leon cowering before Glynda.

"Hey, punk." She called, grabbing the attention of Leon with a confused look on her face.

Wordlessly, she shot him in between his eyebrows with her pistol before twirling it in her finger and holstering it on her back.

"I told you to pick your words carefully next time, didn't I?" She grinned viciously, taking delight in the boy's suffering as she watched him writhing on the ground with his hands on his forehead. "You're lucky he was still holding back—you'd have been fucking _obliterated_ if he wasn't."

"I'll just take those two to the infirmary," Tiella said, ignoring the questioning and disapproving glare Glynda was giving her. "Meet you in your office later?"

Glynda sighed, adjusting her glasses while looking back at the boy in pain with barely any pity. "Never do that again without my permission."

"Alright, catch you later. I'm gonna have a nice long talk with Bardy."

"Please, do."

As Tiella took a step away, she paused as soon as a question popped up in her mind. She turned around and voiced her question weakly. "Why didn't you stop me and Bardy?"

Glynda side glanced at Tiella and returned her glare back at Leon while answering in the same manner. "I was asked to observe."

"That's what I thought." She tapped Glynda's shoulder for a bit before moving on. "I'll see you later."

While Tiella walked away, she overheard Glynda saying, "Now, Mr. Springfield, why don't you explain to me in detail what happened in my office? Please carry your team with you."

Tiella called, "Bardy," a blank expression on her face as she walked towards them.

"Tiella," Bardel answered with a blank expression on his face as well.

"You're a fucking dumbass," she stated matter-of-factly.

"You shot me in the head." He nonchalantly grabbed the bullet stuck in his head, barely making a dent on his muscles and skull after tearing through the skin on his head. He did the same with the rest of the holes in his body, not even grunting in pain as he flicked the dented and squished bullets far away from Beacon grounds and into the lake separating Vale and Beacon behind them.

Tiella held a finger in front of Bardy's face while walking past him, "That's 'cause you were being a fucking dumbass."

"Whatever."

"Come with me, we're gonna patch you up."

"Fine." He groaned, yanking his arm out of Lilly's hold.

Lilly watched the two of them walk away with a look before sighing and rolling her eyes before following after them.

 _"They make up just as fast as they get into fights with each other, it's just like they're siblings."_

When they arrived at the infirmary, they found a familiar trio of girls patching each other up with bandages and pain relief spray.

"Hey, Celeste!"

"Yang, how's it going?"

Lilly had a curious reaction when she heard the way Yang called Tiella.

Yang, Weiss, and Blake were all in their gym clothes, partially-worn or otherwise. Yang was sitting at the bedside while Weiss was spraying on Blake's back.

Yang had a wide smile as she turned to look back on her two teammates, and she grinned wider when she looked back at Tiella.

"That's good to know," Tiella said with a satisfied smile.

"Heya, Lilly." Yang greeted as soon as she saw Lilly enter the room.

Lilly was about to greet back when suddenly she turned to her side and pushed something or someone out of their view.

"Y-You can't go in yet!" Lilly said as she struggled.

"Why not?" A man said while a hand appeared grabbing the doorframe into the room. "I'm dripping blood on the floor."

"There are girls half-clothed here, dumbass."

"Fuckin' hell, I'm dyin' here." Bardel entered without struggling. "Like I care about some kid tits and asses when I'm dripping blood thanks to you."

The three girls looked visibly offended by his words, rushing to cover themselves. They saw him give them a very quick passing glance before he turned his attention on the bandages on one of the shelves.

Offended as they were, they quickly noticed the number of bloodstains on his shirt and pants, as well as the holes on his skin, and it drove a sense of urgency in them.

"S-Shouldn't he be lying down first?" Yang asked, finally recognizing the man as the one who was sleeping in the police car last night.

"And get blood on the bed as well as make it hard for me to bandage him up?" Tiella asked, a sarcastic brow raised.

"R-Right."

"Don't worry about him, this is pretty much par for the course." She dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"Par for the-... wha...?"

The trio of girls was stunned in disbelief by the lack of urgency in Tiella, Lilly, and especially Bardel's actions.

"I was expecting Lilly to bandage me up."

"Got a problem with me doing it?"

"You suck."

Tiella harshly smashed Pepper on the back of Bardel's head and yet Bardel didn't budge a centimeter.

"See what I mean?" Bardel commented nonchalantly, "What the fuck kinda nurse hits her patients?"

"Lilly, I'm gonna shoot this guy again."

"Don't make my job any harder, please." Lilly pleaded with a wry smile, already taking steps towards Bardel with some cotton and disinfectant.

"In the fucking balls."

"Bitch can _try_."

Immediately Tiella cocked her pistol and aimed low. Yang, Weiss, and Blake watched in growing fear as Tiella pulled the trigger without hesitating.

They were expecting a loud noise, but all they heard was Tiella's pistol clicking without doing much else. Tiella scowled at Bardel while he grinned back at Tiella. Tiella twirled her pistol again and holstered it on her back.

"Aren't _you_ lucky?" she said, eyes squinted while her teeth clenched in complete annoyance.

" _Heh_."

The trio of girls sighed in relief when they realized that Tiella's gun was empty—incredibly happy with not being able to see a man's junk turning into actual junk right in front of their eyes.

Meanwhile, the boy himself was stripping his tattered black T-shirt off, revealing a muscular back the likes of which the girls have never seen, and they didn't know what to think or feel about it. It was so toned and bulky that they could clearly see which muscle groups began and ended—and to them, it was fascinating, despite the blood.

As Lilly took over, the trio girls watched in curiosity at how she patched Bardel up. Tiella noticed their curiosity and looked to Blake, remembering that she hadn't been formally introduced to the other two, unlike Yang and Weiss.

"Blake," Tiella called.

"Yes?" Snapping to Tiella's attention.

"How are you?"

Blake sent her eyes down with eyes half closed, playing with her fingers as she eyed the bandages wrapped around her arms. She gave Weiss a knowing look and nodded at Tiella's question.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking."

"That's good." Tiella nodded. "Let me just introduce you to my old team. That girl patching the jackass up is-"

" _Aliciel Lillianne Le Fiora de La Vernillion_." Lilly interrupted with a regal smile.

"T-That's quite the name."

"That's why we just call her Lilly," Tiella commented.

Blake waved at Lilly and introduced herself, "Hello, Lilly. I'm Blake Belladonna."

"It's very nice to meet you, Blake. We already met, though I'm not sure if you remember because you were desperately focusing on saving Ruby at the time."

"I…" Blake thought back for a second with a tilt of her head. "I think I do remember you. You told me to make sure that Ruby was breathing properly while I put pressure on her wound, and that I should run away if I could if I didn't want to die."

Tiella gave Lilly a disbelieving look, to which Lilly defended herself with a finger held up.

"In my defense, I was just looking out for any flying debris coming from Bardel's rampage—you know how it is when he gets excited."

Tiella then gave Bardel a look that perfectly expressed the words ' _how could I forget?_ ' in the most resigned way ever.

Blake felt a nudge on her back and looked up to see Weiss giving her a look. She fake coughed into her hand and nudged Blake again.

Understanding Weiss' intention, she warily glanced around the room with her eyes lingering a tad longer on the door and windows. She hesitantly removed her bow and revealed her cat ears to everyone in the room.

"My!" Lilly exclaimed in delight.

"I-I'm a Faunus."

Lilly looked between Weiss and Blake. "And you're friends with Weiss?"

Weiss and Blake shared another look and they both nodded. "Yes." Blake smiled. "Yes, we are."

"Awe, that's so _cuuute!_ " Lilly gushed while taking care of Bardel's wounds.

Yang wrapped her teammates in a big hug and gushed as well, "Right? Right?"

"Y-Yang! Please!" Blake whined, a little embarrassed.

"Let go of me you brute!" Weiss groaned as she tried to free herself.

Lilly was smiling happily at the scene until she noticed that on one of the beds lied Ruby, still sleeping soundly. Because she was done with Bardel's first aid, she stood from her bed and checked on Ruby. As she was about to touch Ruby's forehead, she heard Yang spoke to her from across the room.

"The doctor said that Ruby just needs to rest a little longer and that she's only sleeping til now because she's exhausted after everything that happened last night."

Lilly watched as Yang walked over to the other side of the bed and held Ruby's hand. She was gingerly stroking her thumb on Ruby's hand as she looked at her with a sad smile.

"She's gonna be in so much trouble when she wakes up."

"I'm-"

"Blake," Yang immediately cut her off. "We talked about it already. It's her fault for looking away in a fight—she was careless."

"But if I hadn't-"

"If that's the case, _I_ should be blamed for everything because I wasn't listening to you in the first place." Weiss cut in defensively, arms crossed while looking away in shame.

"..."

Yang gave both Weiss and Blake a knowing smile. "It doesn't matter whose fault it was. You saved her, Blake. Don't you _ever_ forget that."

Blake stared back, tears forming on the edge of her eyes. "Thank you."

"Thank _you_ , Blake." She stroked Ruby's hair, brushing her fringes away to reveal more of her face in the sunlight beaming from the window. "I still have my baby sister because of you."

"Your students have some pretty decent camaraderie going on, Tielle."

"They do."

"Makes me wish we're like that, too."

"You wish."

"That's what I said."

"I know."

"Instead I get a pair of tsunderes that use fistfights as a form of greeting with each other."

"..."

The room was in a state of awkward silence as they all tried to process Lilly's words. A few uncomfortable seconds later, Tiella broke the silence.

"The _fuck's_ a tsundere?"

Unable to take any more awkwardness, Bardel stood from his seat and wore his shirt again. "I'm going for breakfast." He walked towards Tiella and asked with hands in his pocket. "Could you lend me money for breakfast?"

"No need." Tiella gestured for him to go outside with a tilt of her head. "Food's free here as long as you eat within curfew."

"Alright." Bardel nodded impressed. "I'll be back in our room after I eat."

"Actually, I'll be coming with you," Tiella said, quickly following behind Bardel.

"You hungry, too?"

"I just had breakfast earlier, so, no."

"Then, why?"

"To make sure you don't explode again, and we gotta talk about that."

"What are you, my mother?"

"With how I've known you all this time? No, but you probably need one—badly."

"Not into that kinky shit like you."

"Fuck you."

They both disappeared into the hallway, leaving the trio baffled about their relationship with one another. In one moment, they were at each other's throats, dealing real harm towards each other.

In another, it was as if they were closer than twins—that no amount of hurtful words or painful strikes they did to each other could actually get them to hate one another.

Lilly was amused at the trio's reaction to Tiella and Bardel's banter, so she decided to talk a little about them.

"They don't actually hate each other, you know?"

"I-It certainly looked that way," Weiss commented.

"That's just how they banter."

"Does it always end up with one of them needing bandages?" Blake asked.

"No, it usually ends up with the both of them needing bandages."

"What did Celeste mean by ' _to make sure you don't explode again_ '?" Yang asked.

"Didn't you hear a loud explosion earlier?"

"That was _him?_ " Weiss asked incredulously.

"Yep."

"We thought it was just Nora again, one of our friends," Yang added.

"Why did he… _explode?_ " Blake asked in earnest.

"Well, there was this student that picked a fight with him. Bardy easily agreed, of course, but the student was a little overeager and threw some choice words at Bardy and he didn't like it. Bardy's a good person at heart but his temper is _very_ short, so he's prone to taking baits at the slightest bit of provocations—and that normally doesn't end well for a lot of people including us."

"Because he gets his ass whooped?" Yang guessed.

"In a way?" Lilly somewhat agreed as she looked up in thought. "Because you see, he goes on a rampage and knocks out or destroys whatever it was that made him mad, but in the process, there's always way too much collateral damage to just leave him be."

" _Collateral damage?_ " Weiss repeated in disbelief.

"Toppled buildings, giant craters…" Lilly recounted on her fingers. "Basically property damage on a scale comparable to terrorist bombings."

"T-That's…" Blake muttered, unable to think of anything to say.

"And Tiella can stop that person by herself?" Weiss asked, tone still in disbelief.

"Well, yes, if she has her equipment with her, though it would take a _lot_ of effort, so I help her out." Lilly looked at the trio in curiosity, recognizing their expressions as one of fascination and mild confusion. "Haven't you seen Tielle fight before? I thought you would have since you're her students."

"Well, we have…" Yang answered with a hand to her chin in thought.

"But…" Weiss continued while in thought as well.

"She always held back because she thinks that spars shouldn't be anything to go serious about." Blake finished.

"Does she always fight in them barehanded?"

"Yeah, she does," Yang answered. "And she's pretty amazing, too."

"She is, she is." Lilly nodded in agreement. "That's her way of training, you see."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Celeste-"

Surprised by the voice that suddenly answered, they all looked behind them to see Ruby sitting upright on her bed.

"-trains by purposely giving herself handicaps in practice matches like the spars and our training, so she could get better in the future for when she gives it her all."

"Ruby!"

"Hey, s _iS—!?_ "

Ruby panicked as she saw Yang jump at her from across the room, pushing her out of the bed and into the floor. She was a little dazed after her fall, but she quickly noticed Yang tightly hugging her with tears running down her cheeks.

"I was so worried… you stupid, _stupid_ little sister."

Ruby hugged Yang back, gently stroking the back of Yang's head, tears welling in her eyes as well. "I'm sorry, Yang."

Blake quickly walked over and took a knee, holding Ruby's hand. "Ruby, I-"

"You're back, Blake."

Blake took a sharp inhale—with pursed lips, she tried to stop the tears from falling as she was on the verge as well. She held Ruby's hand tighter as if fearing that what she was holding wasn't real. She closed her eyes to blink back her tears and nodded.

"Yes, Ruby." Blake sniffed, wiping a tear away with her thumb. "I'm back."

Weiss put a gentle hand on Blake's shoulder while giving Ruby a small smile. "And we'll make sure she stays."

"You made up!" Ruby beamed.

Blake and Weiss smiled in return, happy to see that their leader was truly out of harm's way. They spent the moment in quiet, happily taking in a scene that felt like a reunion.

"Uh, Yang?" Ruby tapped her sister on her back.

"Yeah?" she answered, not budging from her tight embrace.

"I… uh… my butt hurts, the floor is too hard."

"That's your punishment for acting so stupidly, looking away in a fight." Yang pulled away from the hug, tightly grabbing on Ruby's shoulders as she continued scolding her. "That wasn't any of our spars, Ruby! You could've died!"

"I…"

"You could've died! B-Because you got careless a-and y-you looked away a-and… and I-I wasn't there for you when it happened when I should've a-a-and—"

"I'm sorry, Yang." Ruby held her sister close, tightly wrapping her arms over Yang's shoulders. "I'm really sorry… I just didn't want you to be sad because Blake wasn't there…"

"I'm here, now." Blake embraced the sisters, burying her face between them. "I'm here."

"Weiss?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"A group hug isn't complete if the whole team isn't in it."

"...fine."

Weiss took a knee to wrap her arms over everyone as well but paused just before she did. "Just so you know, we all just finished our morning routine and we haven't taken our showers."

"So, that's why you all reek of sweat." Ruby chuckled.

"Exactly," Weiss finally embracing her team to wrap things up. "and that's what you're getting, too."

"Such a _sweet_ moment, and I'm _witness_ to it!" Lilly wiped a tear forming in her eyes—reminding the others that she was still in the room with them.

Everyone looked up from the hug and quickly they let go, Yang helping Ruby get back on the bed. After a few seconds of awkward silence, they all simply chuckled.

"I like you girls." Lilly grinned. "So, if you have any questions about Tielle, I can tell you anything."

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in the cafeteria at 7:47 am…_

"LET'S GO, DICKHEAD."

"YOU'RE ON, SHITHEAD."

Tiella and Bardel were having another fight.

Only, it was an eating contest.

With a time limit of 10 minutes.

And with over 50 Sloppy Tiellas to consume.

Each.

One might wonder how this came to be, but do you honestly even care? That's what I thought. But for those who _do_ care, the eating contest began from a very innocent question that came from a certain orange headed hammer girl.

That's right.

The question was:

"How many pancakes does it take to get to the moon?"

"What?" was the collective thought of everyone in the table, namely Team JNPR with Bardel and Tiella.

"Nora," Ren sighed, tired of his day already even though classes hadn't even started yet. "that's not practical."

"It can be if it's for science!"

"You don't even like science."

"Yeah, I do!"

"You only like it when things go wrong and explode."

"I don't see what's wrong with liking it for that reason, Ren."

They were all eating their breakfast when Pyrrha noticed Tiella enter the room with Bardel, who she easily recognized as the person who blew a hole in the school grounds. And much like her, nearly everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the odd pair.

A lithe yet muscular tall girl, infamous for her Professional Bully name and smug nature. And a boy who stood a head smaller than her but was built as thick as a tree trunk, already infamous for doing property damage to the school.

What was even more eye-catching was how he was wrapped in bandages all over.

The fact that he looked like he was just gunned down earlier but stood up like it was nothing was incredibly disturbing to a lot of the students.

Remembering the scene made them wonder if he didn't have his Aura up at the time, or if the Professional Bully's gun was just that powerful to be able to break one's Aura with one shot.

Regardless, Pyrrha called Tiella over with a small wave of her hand. Bardel took the empty seat next to Jaune while Tiella sat across Bardel, each having the good Ol' Sloppy Tiella.

"Not bad," Bardel commented while chewing. "For someone who sucks dogshit ass at cooking, you sure know how to come up with something good, it's a little too spicy though."

"Shut your ass and eat, pussy."

"Ungrateful bitch, no one eats this amount of chilis without sweating other than you."

"Fuck you, too, cunt."

The banter made Team JNPR wonder whether they were truly friends or not, although, because of the choice words, they were a little hesitant to ask.

Except for Nora.

"Are you two friends?"

""Nah."" They both answered in unison while focusing on their breakfast.

"You _sound_ like friends."

""That's fucking ridiculous.""

"So how many pancakes does it take to get to the moon?"

Bardel side glanced at the girl with a questioning brow, while Tiella just chuckled.

"A billion, maybe." Tiella guessed offhandedly.

"Nah, probably just a hundred mil." Bardel guessed.

"A hundred mil's too small a number, dumbass."

"Food's always too small for you no matter the amount, you hungry fuck."

"Wanna run that by me again, asshole? You fucking eat more than me!"

"Obviously because I can."

"You saying I can't beat you in an eating contest?"

"Maybe in your dreams."

Tiella finished the remaining half of her Sloppy Tiella in one bite, downing it in one big gulp of her milk before slamming the glass down on the table.

"Fine then, let's eat."

"With you? Fuckin' nope."

"Scared, pussy?"

"What was that?"

"Big Ol' hunk o' muscle too scared to lose to a girl in an eating contest?"

"Say that again, I dare you."

"Oh wait, you're not that _big_ , are you?"

"That's because I'm a normal human being, not a fucking lamppost with limbs like you!"

"Jealous of the height, boy? Why not try stepping up? The world's _fine_ from up here."

"FINE! YOU WANT ME TO _STEP UP!?_ I'LL _STEP UP_ —I'LL SHOW YOU _STEPPING UP_! I'LL STEP UP _SO HARD_ , YOU'LL NEED A _LADDER_ TO GET ON MY LEVEL!"

Bardel stood from his seat abruptly and strode over to make an order for 100 Sloppy Tiellas to be paid for by Tiella.

"LET'S GET IT ON, DICKHEAD!" Tiella quickly followed, immediately paying for the absurd amount of food and the inconvenience.

"YOU'RE ON, BITCH!"

And so with Pyrrha somehow ending up officiating, with a timer in hand, she signaled the match to begin.

They both ate voraciously—as if they hadn't eaten in days. They tore through one Sloppy Tiella after another, sometimes in twos.

In the middle of the match, Tiella pulled her pistol out and took a shot at Bardel's forehead, knocking his head backward, much to the surprise of the crowd that was watching them.

"Professional Bully's a cheater!"

"Oh my god, you killed him again!"

However, much to everyone's surprise, there wasn't even a scratch on his forehead, unlike the time he was shot in the head earlier—there was only smoke from the dented bullet that embedded itself on Bardel's forehead, just literally sticking out.

"You fuckin' cheat!"

Bardel tossed his 22nd Sloppy Tiella in his mouth and pulled back his arm, throwing a powerful right straight that Tiella easily dodged, letting the students behind her take the hit instead. And to them, it was just like getting hit by high powered air cannon.

Seats and tables were pushed back along with the students that took the brunt of the blow, the windows rattled and would've shattered had there not been anyone blocking the way.

"All is fair in love and war, Bardy!"

Tiella just finished her 23rd piece while taking another shot at Bardel's forehead. It, once again, hit him square in the middle of his eyebrows, yet not once did he flinch at all.

"And I love war!"

Tiella grinned madly, adjusting her aim to go for Bardel's eyes. And just like before, Bardel wasn't bothered—he didn't even blink to cover his eyes, he simply stared in full fury while pulling his arm back for another swing, except, he wasn't aiming for Tiella's head like last time.

" _You motherf-_ "

He aimed for Tiella's plate.

"All is fair in love and war, bitch!"

Tiella swiftly moved her plate out of harm's way, however, the force carried by Bardel's swing was so strong that it pushed the students back again, as well as the chandelier—swinging back and forth like a storm was happening inside the building.

The wind pushed Tiella back, though she managed to stay in her seat—her food, however, was a different story. Tiella watched in horror as her food spilled in the air, though she acted quickly by grabbing two trays from nearby tables and started catching everything before they fell to the ground.

She skipped, jumped, and turned in the air as if ballet dancing while taking care not to spill whatever she caught and was trying to catch still. Near the end, a Sloppy Tiella was about to hit Bardel on the head, so she ran up the table and stomped on his face as he was about to take his final bite.

She used his face as a stepping stone to jump and snatch the last piece out of the air with her mouth before gracefully landing on the ground, the rest of her 24 Sloppy Tiellas following suite on her tray.

The crowd cheered, applauding loudly as Tiella bowed her head deeply at her audience, Bardel casually leaning back on his table, taking small sips of water.

She walked back to her table and sat beside Bardel, placing both trays down before she started eating at her normal pace.

"Alright, I'll take the loss." Tiella grinned.

"That's what you get for cheating." Bardel grinning in kind.

"Whatever." Tiella offered one to Bardel, which he simply took.

"You got anything like this but less spicy?" he said while wiping down his forehead and neck of sweat.

"You can ask mama to ease up on the chili next time."

"Gotcha."

Team JNPR meanwhile was just plain surprised at the dynamic. After getting all their tables and seats in order, they all continued eating as if it was the lull after a storm—which was certainly.

"Don't fight the students anymore, alright? At least wait until you're in the sparring arenas and have at least one referee."

"Fine."

"Come on, let's go back and get Lilly. I need you guys at Ozpin's office with me."

* * *

"So, you see... if you want Tielle to go serious in a fight, you need to _think_ fast, _hit_ fast, and hit _hard_."

Lilly was sitting on a stool while Weiss, Blake, and Yang sat on Ruby's bed—intently listening to Lilly as she gave her advice.

"A fight with Tielle isn't as simple as who's faster or who hits harder, no." Lilly wiggled her finger as explained. "There's a bit of a mind game involved every time."

Lilly paused to let the girls think and remind themselves of their own experiences against their teacher. Ruby had her lips cutely pursed as she went into deep thought. Weiss and Blake were both looking up in contemplation, while Yang simply bit her thumb's nail when she remembered getting hit really hard in the fatal four-way.

Satisfied that they were taking her seriously, Lilly continued with a smile. "I'm sure you've all noticed how she tries to memorize your fighting style during the spar, right?"

"Yeah!" Yang immediately answered, pointing a finger at Lilly in exclamation.

"It was quite hard to believe until I saw her doing the same to me," Weiss commented.

"That's the first mind game. See, Tielle will keep analyzing you until she's confident she can take you out. And when she does go for the kill, she always makes sure that there's little chance for you to counter right after she's done."

"Really?" Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "She hits really hard, yeah, but we always manage to get back up right away and fight back."

"That's true," Yang added.

"Don't tell me..." Weiss began with eyes squinted in thought. "...is it because it doesn't matter to her whether we do or don't?"

"That may be true." Lilly nodded. "Though, if I had to guess, the real reason would be because she's trying to be a teacher and not just be a simple sparring partner," she said, earning nods from all four girls. "If she was just a sparring partner, she'd want to end the match as fast as she can."

"So how do we get her to fight for reals?" Yang asked.

Lilly smiled wide, finding the eagerness in Yang a little adorable. "The best way is to get in her head during the spar. Memorize her fighting style, know her quirks, understand her strengths and weaknesses, exploit known weaknesses, catch her off guard and capitalize—those kinds of things." She grew more and more amused as the apprehension on the girls' faces made itself more apparent while slowly listed off possible ways.

She chuckled, earning curious and slightly confused looks from the girls. "Although, that's easier said than done. So, if you want a quick and easy way..." She leaned closer towards the girls for a whisper, covering the side of her face from view with her hand. "...aim for her legs."

"Her legs?" Yang repeated.

"Of course..." Weiss muttered in realization, eyes wide with a finger held close to her chin. Ruby as well, realizing the reason just as quickly as Weiss did. Blake, however, already knew that the so-called 'quick and easy way' was actually easier said than done as she'd already tried countless times beforehand.

"Her power comes from her legs, more accurately, her steady footing," Blake said, earning the attention from her other teammates. "We've all noticed her special technique, and it always starts from her feet, isn't that right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Yang nodded in realization.

"Take that away and you cut her strength down by a lot," Lilly added with an agreeing nod.

"I can't believe it was that simple," Weiss mumbled. "No, it _can't_ be that simple."

"You're right." Blake agreed. "It isn't. I know, I've tried."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"I always aim for her legs whenever it was my time to spar with her, whether it was with Aura or not, and not a single time did I succeed."

Lilly curiously listened to Blake's experience with a smile, eager to learn more about Tiella's new life on Remnant.

So, without being interrupted, Blake continued. "Whenever I tried tripping her over, she'd leap just high enough to dodge but not enough for me to exploit the time she spends in the air where she can't easily maneuver or just plain knee me in the face. Whenever I tried pushing her over, she'd always push me back instead. If I tried constraining her legs, she'd pivot her whole body to force me off balance. It's amazing how someone just a little older than me could readily answer all the attacks I throw at her—it's both disheartening and inspiring."

"You know, I had the same problems as you." Lilly chimed as soon as Blake finished. "So I tried different approaches."

"Like what?" Blake asked.

Lilly gave her a big toothy smile. "I think that'll be a good lesson for you and a nice surprise for Tielle."

There were footsteps coming from the hall just outside the infirmary that caught their attention. Recognizing the sound, Lilly stood from her stool and walked up to the door to meet who she was sure she would be there.

"Had a good breakfast?"

Tiella put a hand on the doorframe and stopped just outside with Bardel just behind her.

"Yeah, it was alright. What about you, didn't feel like eating?"

"I was gonna but something nice happened here as soon as you two went away and I just had to stay behind."

"Well we need to meet up with Ozpin, so eat up."

"I see." Lilly turned and faced the girls. "Have you girls had breakfast yet?"

To answer, Yang's stomach growled just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Shyly, she put a hand on the back of her head and smiled demurely while letting out an embarrassed laugh.

Lilly giggled. "Would you like to join me, then?" Extending an offer to everyone sans Ruby.

The girls looked at each other as they thought over their answer. A short moment of deliberation later, they all agreed after one look at Ruby.

Weiss spoke. "We'd be happy to join you, however, I think we'd like to eat with Ruby here as soon as we grab breakfast."

Surprised, Ruby looked at Weiss with eyes wide in happiness. Wordlessly, she wrapped her arms around Weiss' waist. Yang followed, wrapping her arms around Ruby and Weiss. Weiss being _Weiss_ , she tried, with no luck, to shake off Yang's shoulders.

"Don't touch me. You're sweaty."

"We're all sweaty, Weiss." Yang retorted.

"Isn't that worse?" Blake commented.

"And you're kinda rubbing the smell on me," Ruby added.

"You're the one who hugged me first."

"So, I can't?"

Weiss opened her mouth to retort but found that she had nothing to say in the face of the greatest weapon known to mankind—Ruby's pout.

She sighed, shoulders dropping while her head hung sideways in defeat. "...do what you want."

Ruby beamed as she hugged Weiss closer, reveling in her victory.

Tiella smiled wryly at the sight while Lilly had a gentle smile on her face. Bardel, meanwhile, simply had a blank look as he peeked from the door.

"That's enough sap," Tiella said, earning everyone's attention. "Let's go, we have a meeting and I think Glynda should be almost done with chewing out that dickhead if she isn't already," Tiella spoke as she turned, leading the way back to the cafeteria.

* * *

During breakfast, most eyes were on the mercenary trio. With the infamous Professional Bully at the front, the students and even some staff members bubbled into murmurs and whispers—each one spreading gossip of what had happened just in that particular morning. Namely, of how a Raging Bull destroyed the courtyard in front of the cafeteria.

However, while most people were talking about the Bull, some were more interested in the Angel that was supposedly trying to hold the bull back on her own until the Professional Bully arrived.

And the moment the trio entered, closely followed behind by Weiss, Blake, and Yang, stillness spread over the cafeteria as all eyes fell on them before nearly everyone zeroing in on the so-called Angel that was walking in the middle of the group.

Were they curious? Very.

Were they allured? Absolutely.

Did they want to talk to her? Highly.

But did they do anything at all?

No. No, they didn't. Or rather, they couldn't.

Because not only was the Angel's entourage extremely intimidating, but the Angel herself also had an aura of charisma and charm that rendered nearly everyone speechless in awe. While the Angel was certainly beautiful beyond words could describe in their addled state of mind, she wasn't _inhumanly_ so. Her presence simply exudes charisma and charm akin to the Headmaster's, if not more.

But what about the Angel? How did she feel?

 _"I wonder what I can eat on the way? I don't wanna waste any more time."_

She felt hungry.

"Hey, Tielle."

"What's up?"

"What's a good, heavy but easy to carry sandwich?"

"The Sloppy Tiella."

Lilly cutely tilted her head with a confused smile. "Excuse me?"

"The Sloppy Tiella," Tiella said as she turned around to show Lilly what she'd ordered for her as soon as she heard Lilly's question and understood her concern.

Lilly looked at the Sloppy Tiella with furrowed brows and eyes wide open. She looked to Tiella who was wearing a small grin and back to the sandwich a few times while in contemplation, carefully scrutinizing the ingredients in the monster bread presented before her. After some thought, Lilly put both hands on Tiella's shoulders and tiptoed to meet the taller girl closer in the eyes with a big toothy smile of her own.

" _This is perfect!_ " Lilly yelled in a high-pitched voice.

Tiella chuckled with a rather smug half-smile. "I'm a genius."

"Cook it yourself before you say it again," Bardy interjected with arms crossed while wearing a bored look on his face.

"Let me have my moment, Bardy."

"Even the name!" Lilly continued, grabbing the sandwich out of Tiella's hand. "It's definitely something you would make granted you could even cook in the first place!"

Weiss, Blake, and Yang giggled at Lilly's honest words after hearing them—even some of the nearby students couldn't help but chuckle as well.

" _Let me have my fucking moment, Lilly,_ " Tiella insisted through grit teeth in a forced smile while a throbbing vein appeared on her forehead.

As soon as Team RWBY sans Ruby got their breakfasts in their trays, they all strolled out the cafeteria while continuing their banter. As they arrived at the main school building, they separated, each trio having their own businesses to attend to.

In the middle of the halls leading toward the infirmary, Yang voiced a question she'd been meaning to ask.

"What do you guys think?"

"About what?" Blake asked.

"About Tiella's friends."

Weiss and Blake thought over the question for a moment, each one remembering their first impressions of the two as well as what they thought about them after speaking to them in the infirmary—or at least, after speaking to Lilly.

"Lilly's..." Weiss started, still a little pensive with how to properly describe the girl. "...I don't know how to put it but there's just something about her that seems so special, even though I've yet to see anything particularly special from her."

"I think I know what you mean," Blake chimed, also unsure of what to think of Lilly. "I at least know that she's a good person but... it's weird."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked.

"I mean, did you see the look on everyone's faces in the cafeteria? Everyone was stunned with their eyes locked onto Lilly. It almost looked like she bewitched everyone."

"Yeah, I saw that too but..." Yang paused in thought as she looked up. "why aren't we affected?"

After a bit of quiet contemplation, Weiss spoke with a hesitant voice. "This is just a guess, but..."

"But?" Yang asked while Blake simply glanced at Weiss.

"...perhaps the reason is that she spoke to us already. As if... as if she dispelled any ideas that would've formed in our heads had she ignored us and let us speculate about her at our first meeting. I remember being curious about her when I saw her walking beside Tiella. It made me wonder what sort of relationship she had with her. A friend? A teammate? Someone who just happened to be there to help her out?"

They arrived at the infirmary and was greeted by Ruby with a smile who was still sitting in her bed. They all sat around Ruby while Yang gave Ruby her breakfast for her as Weiss continued her.

"She was oddly alluring, and not just because I found her beautiful, but also for some reasons I can't comprehend even now."

"Who's oddly alluring and beautiful?" Ruby asked after a bite of a small sandwich. "Is it Lilly?"

"Do you think so too, Rubes?"

"Yeah!" Ruby beamed. "She's so beautiful and gorgeous and smart and charming and—"

"We get it." Yang interrupted. "You have a new crush on her."

"N-No I don't!"

"Sorry, Weiss, looks like Ruby's found a new crush."

"I-I don't particularly care!" Weiss looked away with arms crossed, forcing the small pout on her lips away as she turned her body from Ruby.

"What about you Blake?" Yang teased with a grin. Meanwhile, Ruby hung her mouth open in surprise when she saw Weiss turn away from her. Worriedly and hurriedly, she wrapped her arms around Weiss' shoulders and pulled her closer.

"No, Yang. She's beautiful but I don't have a crush on her."

"Yeah, but what do you think of Lilly?"

"I don't know," Blake answered honestly after a contemplative second.

"You don't know?"

"What about you?"

"Honestly?" Yang thought for a bit. "I'm not sure, too. I just know that I like her."

"Maybe you're the one with the crush on her?" Blake teased back.

"Maybe," Yang said with a shrug of her shoulders, a small grin present on her face as she ate her breakfast. "What about Bardy though?"

"A source of great headaches," Weiss quickly answered.

"Typical boy," Blake curtly replied.

Yang laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "You guys are _rude_."

"Well, what do _you_ think of him?" Weiss asked with an irked brow raised.

" _I_ think he's gonna be so much fun to spar with." Yang grinned hungrily, eyes faintly glowing red for a quick second, earning sighs and eye rolls from Weiss and Blake.

"Who's Bardy?" Ruby asked.

* * *

The mercenary trio arrived at the Deputy Headmistress's Office. Tiella swung the door wide open without knocking and while wearing a big grin on her face, greeted Glynda.

"Mornin', Glynda."

Glynda stared blankly for a few seconds before she shut her eyes tight. She tilted her head up with a deep inhale and faced her rotating chair to face the glass window behind her. As she basked in the glow of the warm sunlight, she massaged her temples while slowly letting out her breath. After repeating the process for about two more times, she adjusted her glasses, tidied her bangs, and lightly stretched her neck before she once again faced the trio that suddenly came barging in.

"Good morning, Tiella, Ms. Lillianne, Mr. Armas. My apologies, there was _dirt_ in my eyes just now and it was _irritating_ me greatly, " Glynda said with her hands clasped together on the table while keeping up a neutral expression. "Please, have a seat." She gestured with a hand at the vacant couches. "We'll be meeting with the Headmaster in the afternoon but for now we will be discussing what you two will be doing in the meantime."

Though, even before Glynda offered the seats, Tiella was already sitting and feeling quite at home with her arm on top of the backrest on one of the couches. Lilly was quite amused at the sight while Bardel didn't think anything of it. After a bit, Lilly took a seat next to Tiella while Bardel relaxed on the opposite couch with her legs forming the figure 4.

Tiella had a teasing smile all the while, eyes glued to Glynda. Glynda, on the other hand, simply gave Tiella a passing glance before setting her eyes on both Lilly and Bardel.

"What do you have in mind, Professor?" Lilly queried while looking between Tiella and Glynda, an idea already forming in her head as she slowly understood the meaning behind their expressions—or rather, their _fronts_.

"A chance to observe in any of the classes we have—granted you _don't_ make a ruckus like _earlier_ lest there be _consequences_ ," Glynda said sharply while adjusting her glasses—earning a wry smile from Lilly, a smug grin from Tiella, and a pair of avoiding eyes from Bardel. "If you'd like a drink, I'm sure Tiella will be happy to serve you," she said, her face keeping up the neutral expression she'd been wearing, although, despite her best efforts, Lilly saw the minute changes as well as hear the minimal change in the pitch of her voice.

Tiella's smile tightened with a twitch of her eye as soon as she heard Glynda. Nonetheless, she easily relented and faced her teammates lazily. "Whaddaya want?"

" _Je vais prendre un café serré, s'il vous plaît._ "

"Coffee—black. And get to it."

Tiella stood and threw the pillow on her side of the couch at Bardel's face before moving toward where the drinks were made and mixed. Glynda, meanwhile, was curious about what type of drink it was that Lilly wanted.

"Something happen to you, Lilly?" Tiella asked as she mixed drinks.

Lilly saw Tiella's expression from the side and let out a small sigh, comfortably relaxing into the couch. "I just need a little pick-me-up today, my eyes have been a little sore since last night and it's making me want to close them."

"Your fault for constantly using your Skill."

"Well, I need them."

"You don't need to keep reading my face."

"Only if you start telling me things."

"Tough luck then."

"But it's okay." Lilly stretched her clasped fingers in front of her. "I've become accustomed to it and I'm getting to a point where I just need it to be on passively to be able to read people's thoughts on their faces."

Tiella chuckled. "I wouldn't be surprised if you get to a point where you start reading people's entire biography with one look."

"That's the goal."

Unable to hide her curiosity any longer, Glynda voiced her question. "If I may, what _are_ your Skills? If I understood correctly, Mr. Armas' Skill is a great boost in physical strength based on what Tiella's told me in the past as well as what I saw this morning."

Bardel looked at Glynda and Tiella lazily, a little interested that they were talking about him. Lilly looked at Glynda with eyes that glowed for a fraction of a second before she smiled in understanding while giving Tiella another passing look before returning to Glynda.

"Oui," Lilly said. "Bardy's Skill is called _Iron Will_. It gives him a boost in physical strength and sturdiness that rises in direct proportion to his feelings of motivation." She caught the slightly confused look on Glynda's face so she continued. "In other words, he gets stronger the more he gets pumped up."

"I see."

"I, on the other hand, can _see_." Lilly smiled, receiving the small cup from Tiella.

Tiella simply placed Bardel's cup in front of him on the coffee table between them while she sat back and relaxed with a hot cup of coffee milk.

"You can... _see?_ " Glynda repeated, growing even more confused. _"It can't be that simple, can it?"_

"Yes." Lilly sipped, shutting her eyes as she thoroughly enjoyed her coffee the way she always preferred, hot and strong. " _Ah, c'est magnifique, Tielle_." Her eyes opened with a dim glow before it disappeared just as it appeared while meeting Glynda's gaze from her seat. "On the 8th of April, 2018 in our world, a great change shook the world to its very core."

"The sudden appearance of Skill users?"

"That's correct." Lilly sipped, her eyes glowing once more just as before. "On that day, my eyes suddenly _worked_."

"Worked? You don't mean...?"

Lilly smiled, glad that Glynda was quick to understand just as she expected. "Just a day before that, I lived most of my life fully blind."

"Your Skill cured your blindness?"

"Not exactly."

"That's... curious. Nonetheless, it is quite amazing."

"Indeed!" Lilly beamed. "It is a day I can never forget even if I try." She sipped with a nostalgic smile, gently placing her cup on the saucer she had on her left hand.

* * *

 _April 8, 2018, Paris, France._

It was quite the unusual weather to remember.

I remember playing the piano in the living room while Mother listened to me play on the couch. I was playing Debussy's Clair de Lune, I believe. I was in a melancholic mood due to the hail and lightning I kept hearing from outside. I wanted to go out and read in the garden under the warmth of the spring sun—I was in the middle of reading Sophie's World, after all, and I wanted to thoroughly immerse myself in it while feeling the weather on my hair and skin. But because of the sudden storm, I couldn't. So I was sulking by playing the saddest songs I could think of.

It had been hailing with various bouts of lightning strikes for quite some time that day and I just finished the entirety of Moonlight Sonata. Though, despite my sulking, I was curious about the weather. I wanted to know what hail and lightning looked like when pictured together. My guess was that it would be an amazing sight, despite the danger it presented.

After Clair de Lune, I was planning to play Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2, however, as I was stretching my fingers after playing for quite some time, I _saw_ a flash of light.

I was surprised. So much so that I nearly fell backward from my seat while I let out a small shriek. Mother heard me and I heard her quickly ran up to me.

"Ciel? What's wrong? Did the lightning surprise you?" I heard her ask in worry.

 _"That was lightning? Had lightning always been that flashy? Was that the right word for it? Flashy?"_

My thoughts were a jumbled mess as I tried to make sense of what had happened. And I was so confused that I almost missed the fact that I was _looking_ at something in front of me that I was touching. I couldn't understand what I had my fingers on, so I tried to remember the familiar feeling of it in my fingers.

 _"This is... the piano?"_

Yes, I had my fingers on the piano keys. A grand row of white keys with small bars of black between them. I was stunned when I understood what I saw and I was even more speechless when I understood what had been happening to me.

 _"I can see?"_

I rose my fingers in front of my face, intensely scrutinizing my fingers, the back of my hand, my sweaty palms—everything—with eyes wider than I thought I could open them. I never had the chance to open them as wide as I did before, after all.

"Ciel? What's... are you... _seeing?_ " I heard Mother ask. There was a combination of confusion and hope in her voice that made me believe that I wasn't just having a fever dream.

I turned my head toward her when I felt her arms gently wrapping over my shoulders.

I saw _everything_ in front of me.

 _Everything!_

I was so ecstatic that I reflexively took a sharp breath as tears ran down my cheeks.

"Y-Yes, mama. I can see!"

I saw her burst into tears as well, holding me closer to her as she squeezed me ever so lovingly in her warmth.

"I-I can't believe it..." she said. "You can see!"

"Mama..." I gently pushed her away, earning a confused look from my teary-eyed mother.

I didn't answer immediately because I wanted to etch my mother's face into my memory.

"Mama," I repeated. "can you tell me what I'm touching?" I said while cupping my mother's cheek, stroking it gently with my thumb.

"Of course, dear!" I heard her say. "Of course!" She sniffed, wiping her tears with her free hand. "What you're touching now, is my left cheek."

"Left cheek..." I repeated as I let my hands wander over my mother's face.

"That's my left eyebrow... my upper lip, my lower lip... my," She sniffed. "my left eye..."

I continued slowly and gently running my hands over her face while she softly answered as best as she can to describe everything to me. After some time, I heard another lightning strike and it made look outside the window in curiosity.

It was at that moment when I realized that my sight returning to me after losing it when I was a toddler wasn't the end of it.

There was a second lightning strike that quickly followed, however, this one lightning strike struck me as odd.

What I found odd was that it wasn't _moving_.

At first, I thought that it may have been only natural because it was my first time ever seeing lightning. But then I remembered that all other lightning strikes that happened when my sight returned to me disappeared just as quickly as they appeared.

 _"So why is it still there? Does mama know the answ-"_

I moved my head to look back at my mother, or at least, I tried to. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't change my view by much. I could move my eyes to scan what was in front of me, but I couldn't turn my head to face my mother. It was then that I noticed that it wasn't just the lightning that was acting odd.

Oh, no. Not just lightning.

The fire in the decorative candles by the desk. The falling hail in front of the window just outside. The droplets of rain that ran down the window pane. I even saw dust particles floating in the air.

 _Everything_.

 _Everything_ was _still_.

I couldn't understand it. I had no idea what was happening to me. My mind was racing as my eyes switched from one still object to another as long as it was allowed by the range of my eyes' movement. But no matter how hard I tried to rationalize what was happening, I simply couldn't. It was just far beyond my understanding.

At first, I panicked whether I would be stuck in a still world for the rest of my life, but after some time, I've marginally calmed myself down when I noticed that everything _wasn't_ still. Instead, they were all actually moving so imperceptibly slow. And the only thing that was moving perceptibly in my eyes was the lightning strike that was yet to disappear.

It was just there, slowly, leisurely, lazily rolling down from the sky. Inching downward as what felt like minutes passed in my mind. I took the time to observe everything. I took them all in. I was determined to ask my mother everything I was experiencing. After, perhaps, another 5 minutes or so, the lightning finally reached the ground and motion returned to the world.

Or rather, normal motion returned to my eyes.

* * *

Lilly took another sip—one final sip before she gently placed her cup on the table in front of her. She placed her hands on her lap as her eyes were sent down on the carpet under the table.

"However, before I could ask anything..." Lilly smiled wryly, scratching her cheek with a finger. "...I blacked out."

"Y-You blacked out?"

"Yes, I blacked out."

Glynda silently asked her question, eliciting an amused chuckle from Lilly.

"It's a side effect of my Skill, _God Eyes_ ," she said while pointing at her eyes. "Overuse will shock my mind into blacking out. It's a little like when you have low blood pressure and you just woke up but you stood up too fast and your eyes turn black and you fall back down. Only, in my case, I black out for hours because of a huge amount of unfiltered information going into my brain." Moving her finger from her eyes to her head. "Thankfully, sleeping long enough gives my brain enough time to filter all the information before I wake up. Though, there have been times when I woke up blind again for some time."

"I see."

"And whenever I _do_ wake up after that happens, I feel especially sluggish, groggy, and nauseous while my eyes feel _immensely_ strained."

"If that's the case, then shouldn't you be not using it so casually like right now?" Glynda asked with a tilt of her head.

"On the contrary, I should continue using it as I always have," Lilly replied. "A Skill is like a muscle. It grows stronger and better after every use with proper rests in between."

"I see..." Glynda said with a finger to her lower lip in thought. Her eyes were sent down on her desk, though they found themselves on Tiella. Lilly noticed the look and smiled wryly.

"It's why I keep saying that Tielle should practice hers no matter how much she hates it."

"Yeah, yeah." Tiella sipped.

The response earned surprised looks from both Bardel and Lilly—Lilly looked at her with wide eyes while Bardel paused mid-sip to do the same with a side glance. They were honestly expecting a vicious retort or at least an angry ' _shut the fuck up_ ' without any humor in it.

Tiella continued without looking, already understanding the looks she was getting from her teammates even without seeing them. "In this world, my Skill attracts Grimm to me whenever I use it, or so we believe. So, losing control would be way more dangerous than it'll ever be. It isn't just gonna be people dropping like flies left and right—they'll also be served on a silver platter for when the Grimm come for them."

"I see," Lilly said with eyes to the side of the room as she went into deep thought.

Bardel, on the other hand, scoffed. "Took you long enough."

"Shut up, Bardy." Tiella groaned. She sneakily gave one quick glance at Glynda before focusing on her own cup of coffee. Unluckily for her, Lilly saw it.

"Well, Tielle," Lilly said, placing a hand over Tiella's shoulder. "Since it looks like you're ready to finally practice, why don't you let me help you out?" She said with a wide, toothy smile.

Tiella gave Lilly an irked look before she sighed and shrugged Lilly's hand off her shoulder. "Better you than Ozpin."

Glynda pursed her lips at Tiella's words as she weighed the pros and cons in her mind. It was true that someone who already had prior knowledge about Skills to conduct tests would almost certainly yield better results, however, they weren't completely sold yet on trusting the two.

"Will that be all for now, Professor?"

Glynda paused for a moment to think of what other things were needed to be discussed before answering. "No, unless you have questions yourselves?"

"Yes, I do!" Lilly clasped her hands together in delight.

The smile on her face earned anxious looks from Tiella and the way it looked so innocent rubbed her the wrong way.

"May I know who confessed first?"

Glynda's professional facade cracked just a tiny bit after hearing the question. Her brow twitched while her mouth pursed behind the cover of her clasped hands. While keeping up a stoic expression, she looked to Tiella who just shrugged her shoulders at her while wearing a half grin. She sighed and rested hands over the desk. While contemplating her next words, Lilly's smile widened and kept the _conversation_ going.

"I see, I see." Lilly nodded. "Tielle confessed first. Did something happen after I told you about how she was deeply in love with you?"

"Lilly, I already told you to shut the fuck up."

Ignoring Tiella and focusing on the ever so slightly changing expressions of Glynda, Lilly continued. "I see! You confronted her about it to make sure that she wasn't just playing around, is that it?"

Glynda was able to keep the face of professionalism on the outside, however, she was already panicking on the inside. How someone she only just met could read her like an open book without her having to say anything was far beyond her comprehension. She was slowly beginning to understand why Tiella was just telling her to shut up instead of making excuses or ruses.

"I see, I see!" Lilly nodded sagely once again, proud of her findings. "It's true that she does look like the type to go for one night stands to relieve pent-up sexual frustrations after having a dry spell for so long but you see, Tielle can be a little bit more complicated than that."

"Lilly, you're getting real close to being thrown out the window right now."

Bardel, meanwhile, was just watching and listening to the _exchange_ in his seat.

Ignoring Tiella once again, Lilly continued in that innocent smile of hers. "But did you know that she's called the most dangerous woman in the world back where we're from?"

Suddenly, the air in the room felt like it had dropped a few degrees. There was a tension in the air that appeared just as soon as Lilly voiced her question. Glynda's grip on her hands tightened at her words, wondering in her mind what Lilly was trying to imply. With a slight glare, she stared back at Lilly in confusion.

Still keeping up her innocent smile, Lilly further questioned Glynda unperturbed. "I'm sure she's told you that she's killed people before and feels very guilty about it."

"But did you know that she's also infamous for being called the Devil's Right Hand by a very powerful religious organization? It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this religion once ruled the world."

"..."

"Now, you might be wondering how she got these titles."

"..."

"So, I'll tell you!"

"..."

"You see, the reason she became the most dangerous woman in the world was because long before Skills came out—"

"That is all irrelevant."

Lilly paused in her words as she looked back at a scowling Glynda. Glynda crossed her arms and continued after adjusting her glasses.

"I've chosen to accept Tiella as a whole. She's in a new world and I don't need to know about these things, however, if she wishes to tell me, then she's free to do so—I'd be happy to hear her out."

Lilly had a genuine smile on her face while Tiella had a deep blush on hers while avoiding eye contact with everyone.

"Please," Tiella pleaded. "For my sake, _stop the sap_. I'm getting jitters and it isn't the good kind," she said, earning a snicker from Bardel.

Lilly laughed, scratching the back of her head. "I'm sorry if I went overboard."

"Yeah, you did." Tielle glared.

"But I just wanted to make sure what Glynda thought about you." Lilly stood in front of Glynda and bowed her head deeply. "I'm terribly sorry for my rudeness."

" _For fuck's sake_ , Lilly, stop acting like my mum." Tiella groaned. "You're embarrassing me in front of Glynda and Bardy."

Glynda stared back at Lilly who hadn't moved since she bowed. She sighed and placed a hand on Lilly's shoulder. "Please, raise your head. I can understand looking out for your friends and I'm certain that looking out for Tiella can be quite exhausting at times."

"Hey!"

"But I chose this. And we both agreed to it."

Lilly raised her head to meet Glynda with a smile and giggled. "I knew you were gonna be good for Tielle."

"O-Oh? What makes you say that?"

"Oh, nothing much." Lilly's eyes glowed for a quick second before she answered. "Just a gut feeling."

Glynda looked back at Lilly with confused eyes. After finding no answer from the smaller girl, she looked to Tiella who also looked like she had no idea what Lilly was about. She did a quick glance at Bardel and, just like she suspected, found that he wasn't particularly interested in whatever was happening.

"Do you have time later, Professor?" Lilly asked.

"I normally work even at home, so I don't really have a lot of free time." Glynda quickly peeked at the wall clock and noted that her first class begins in 3 minutes. "I also have a class that I should be getting to already," she said while quickly gathering her things. "I believe that you," giving Tiella a look. "also have your own schedule to follow today."

"Yeah, History with Oobleck," Tiella said while lazily standing up with a stretch of her arms.

Glynda walked past Lilly but paused after a step. "May I know what you need me for later on?"

"I was hoping to talk about some things concerning us." Lilly gestured to her and the rest. "Especially Tielle—this should also concern you greatly as well."

"I see." Glynda adjusted her glasses. "If that's the case then I should be able to make time after our meeting with the Headmaster." And quickly she walked to the door and held it open for them. "Now, if you would please. For now, you may observe Tiella's day until the time of the meeting."

"We get to see Tielle working on something that isn't mercenary stuff!"

"My day's just started and it's already ruined."

"You're exaggerating." Lilly looked to Bardel with an excited smile. "Isn't it exciting, Bardy! We get to see how the students here fight!"

Bardel stood with a yawn. "Bunch of pushovers if you ask me."

"Now, now, don't say that," Lilly said as she followed behind Tiella who was already exiting the office. "You've only fought one person."

"Would you even call that a fight?" Tiella asked.

"Nah," Bardel quickly answered. "The blonde girl that you said knew how to take a hit sounds interesting though."

"Yang? Yeah, you'll love her. You're both knuckleheads but she's still smarter than you."

"Shut up."

"Dumbass."

"Bitch."

"Cunt."

"Here we go again..." Lilly sighed.

"You mean this is normal for them?" Glynda asked.

"Sadly."

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Not much for me to say in this particular chapter._

 _Thanks for sticking with me this far in! It was very flattering to know that you guys liked that sap-fest between Glynda and Tiella in the previous chapter. It gave me a little bit of a confidence boost in writing romance, that's for sure._

 _Anyway! Do tell me what you liked and disliked in this chapter, I just really love reading about your thoughts._

 _Thanks again!_


	25. Chapter 25

Within the confines of Beacon Academy's scholarly walls and halls, a certain lovestruck redhead impatiently went through her morning. It was just after Grimm Studies, which was the last subject before lunchtime. She was distracted, and while she could still perform the tasks she was asked to do, it was obvious to anyone how she wasn't truly with them.

During class…

 _"I wanna be with her."_

And during the walks going to and from different classes…

 _"How much time do I have left until I see her again?"_

Were simply two of the many thoughts she'd had running in her mind all throughout the first half of her day.

 _"Oh, there she is!"_

With small hops in her steps, she walked to her object of affection, who was busy speaking with some students. With a small smile on her face, she waved and called her attention—oblivious to the curious eyes of not only her friends but also other people.

"Hey, Glynda!"

In contrast, however, Glynda stoically turned to meet the gaze of the person that called her from behind.

"Ms. Margory," she said while adjusting her glasses. "How may I help you?"

Tiella winked and grinned, "How about a hand on my waist and a kiss on my li-" but before she could even finish her sentence, her mouth was clamped shut and she was hovering in mid-air.

"My apologies, students, but I have an urgent matter to discuss with Ms. Margory _privately_ ," Glynda said, already walking away with Tiella in tow. "We can continue our discussion about team battles later on."

As Glynda carried Tiella away, the people left behind were left staring at the two until they turned to a corner before they all buzzed into murmurs and gossip.

"Did you see that?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Oh my god, I heard it, too!"

"So I wasn't the only one that heard that?"

"I thought I was hearing things."

"And the way Professor Goodwitch reacted!"

" _I know!_ "

"You owe me 20 Lien!"

" _Goddamnit!_ "

Just as all teens would—they will continue spreading rumor after rumor, gossip after gossip—because finally, something interesting was happening other than the monotony brought by their daily life! Among them were Lilly, Bardel, the trio of Team RWBY as well as Team JNPR.

Yang was constantly elbowing Blake's side while gushing loudly as she stared at the corner Glynda turned to. Weiss had an incredulous look on her face and was wondering how Tiella still hadn't been fired for harassment. And lastly, Blake was slowly getting ticked off from Yang's constant probing.

"Yang, please, I saw it too," she said while slapping Yang's elbow away.

"But it was—"

" _I know._ " Blake insisted as she covered Yang's mouth with her hand. "Ew!" Suddenly pulling back. "You licked my palm!"

"Because you weren't letting me talk!" Yang retorted. "You guys saw it too, right?!" She turned to her side, arms spread wide.

The members of Team JNPR also had varying reactions ranging from Jaune looking _very_ surprised but nonetheless impressed, Pyrrha smiling happily, Nora violently shaking Ren, and Ren simply trying to breathe properly while being shaken violently.

"Yeah, we were just behind Professor Goodwitch when that happened so I think we all heard and saw that clearly," Jaune said.

"I wonder if what we're thinking is actually true," Pyrrha said.

"Of course it is!" Nora answered after dropping Ren. "Otherwise, Goodwitch would've either ignored Tiella or thrown her away instead of bringing her with her!"

Ren stood up as if nothing ever happened and dusted himself off while commenting. "She's got a point."

"If it is, then I'm very happy for her," Pyrrha said with hands clasped together in joy while discreetly eyeing a certain oblivious blonde boy from the corner of her eyes. _"I hope I'm next."_ She thought, feeling a little bit more hopeful after seeing Tiella and Glynda. _"I must ask Tiella for help!"_

While fire silently burned in Pyrrha's heart and eyes, Jaune was wondering aloud. "I wonder how she did it."

"What? Is wonder boy curious?" Yang teased.

"W-Well," Jaune stuttered, raising his hands up defensively. "You can't really blame me, you know? That's _the_ Professor Goodwitch—she's really beautiful but she's also really hard to even _think_ of approaching!"

" _Point._ " Yang conceded with a nod and crossed arms while Nora did just as well. "I still can't believe she did it, though. Now she's _really_ my most favorite person in Beacon."

"Even counting in Ruby?" Blake asked with a curious brow and a sly grin.

" _Aside_ for Ruby."

"What about me?" She teased.

"Yup." Yang teased back. "Because _you're_ on a different category of your own."

"Hopefully nothing too bad." Blake sighed.

"Does ' _special person_ ' sound good enough for you?"

"It's acceptable." Blake rolled her eyes with an amused shake of her head. "But didn't you say that you were wishing for it to happen?"

"Yeah?" Yang shrugged. "It's why I was _wishing_ for it—because I didn't think it would ever happen."

"Rude, aren't you?" Weiss chimed in with a half-smile.

Surprised, Yang met Weiss with a grin of her own. "Oh? Are you saying you actually believed it would happen?"

"Of course." Weiss scoffed. "It was only a matter of time, after all."

"Wow, Weiss." Yang put her hands on her waist. "It sounds like you're pretty supportive of Celeste or something."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Weiss asked with a tilt of her head and a raised brow.

"I'unno." Yang shrugged. "I figured you didn't like Celeste as much with how she's always teasing you and stuff."

"I will admit, Yang," Weiss said while rolling her eyes and looking to the side, "that the teasing does get quite annoying, but it's all in good nature. I've never once been insulted purposely or intently by Tiella or you, so I don't really see a reason why I shouldn't like her as much as I do. Tiella's a good friend—she's the one who helped me make up with Ruby." Weiss pursed her lips in shyness while playing with her fingers. "So... of course I would want my friend to be happy."

Blake and Yang smiled at the unusual honesty the Heiress displayed and while Team JNPR was a little surprised at Weiss breaking character, they were happy nonetheless.

"I guess I gotta thank Celeste for that, huh?" Yang said while placing a hand on Weiss' shoulder, which Weiss immediately tried to shake off.

"Besides," Weiss continued with a wave of her hand as if telling everyone to stop staring at her face, "it's not as obvious but you can still see that Professor Goodwitch does share a good relationship with Tiella, whether as simple friends or more than just is still up in the air."

Blake couldn't help but chuckle at Weiss' words, demurely covering her mouth with her forefingers, which caught her friends' attention.

"W-What's so funny?" Weiss asked.

"I'm sorry, just didn't expect you to be one to join in on love talks." Blake smiled teasingly.

"T-That's—... It's only natural to want to support your friends!" Weiss turned her body from Blake while crossing her arms with a ' _hmph_ '. "I'd even fully support you and Yang too if you weren't so _brazen_ with your affection in public."

Yang and Blake simply giggled at Weiss' words, happy to learn that Weiss didn't particularly mind their relationship after all. While they all gossiped and speculated further on the nature of Glynda and Tiella's current relationship, Yang noticed that Lilly and Bardel were just quietly standing to the side as they watched and listened in—at least, Lilly did.

Yang walked to Lilly. "So, Lilly." After walking close enough, she realized once again the height difference between them with her being a few centimeters shorter, which led her to realize that Tiella's friends were quite tall—even if Lilly was the shortest.

"Yes?" Lilly asked with a tilt of her head and that ever-present smile.

"What do you think of Tiella and Glynda?"

Lilly smiled wider. "I think they're both good for each other."

"Yeah, but what do you think about them now?" Yang leaned closer. "Do you think they're _together-together?_ "

Lilly smiled teasingly. "Well, I could tell you, but I think it's better to hear it from the person herself, no?"

Yang gasped wide-eyed with a hand over her wide open mouth. "Oh my god! No!" Lilly remained silently smiling while letting Yang speculate. "No way!" Yang said, earning everyone's attention. "For real?" Yang whispered with a hand covering her mouth.

Lily giggled and whispered just as well while covering her mouth. "Well, it looks like it's pointless to keep it a secret from you _or_ Blake," she said while giving Blake a short glance, who was a little surprised with what she'd heard, before returning her gaze to her fellow lavender-eyed friend. "Yes, they're _together-together_." She whispered a little weaker, making sure that only she and Blake could hear.

" _Oh my go—_ " Yang exclaimed but her mouth was quickly covered by Lilly's hand.

"Let's not spread word of it, okay?" Lilly whispered with a finger to her lips. "Tiella doesn't mind people knowing, but she doesn't like it when her life is being broadcast either."

Yang quietly nodded before Lilly removed her hand over her mouth. She gave Lilly a discreet thumbs up. "You betcha."

While their friends noticed the exchange, they didn't really understand what they were talking about sans Blake. Unable to keep herself from not asking any longer, Nora walked up to Lilly with a wave.

"You're so beautiful!" she said in her rarely waning energy. "I'm Nora Valkyrie!" she said as she looked up while extending a hand to shake. "Are you also Tiella's friend?"

"Thank you!" Lilly smiled toothily, shaking the hand offered. "Indeed, I am! I'm _Aliciel Lillianne Le Fiora de La Vernillion_ but please, call me Lilly."

"Even your name is beautiful!"

"Thank you, my mother chose it for me."

"What does it mean?" Nora asked eagerly.

"It means ' _Aliciel Lillianne, the Flower of Vernillion_ '."

Nora gushed as soon as she heard the meaning. "It fits so much!"

"Thank you! But I like your name too." Lilly praised. "Valkyrie sounds so majestic!"

"Thanks!" Nora beamed proudly, she quite liked her name so she was happy that someone other than Ren praised her for it. She grabbed Ren by the arm and pulled him over. "This is Lie Ren, my partner and childhood friend! I call him Renny sometimes but you can call him Ren."

"Nice to meet you, Ren." Lilly smiled.

Ren looked up at the taller girl before sighing with a smile at his partner's antics. "The pleasure is mine."

Nora waved for the rest of her team to come forward so she could introduce them as well. "This is Jaune Arc!" she said while pointing to the shy boy rubbing the back of his head while trying not to look too much at Lilly. "He's my team leader," she said with a teasing grin. Lastly, Nora pointed to the girl with red hair. "And this is Pyrrha Nikos! She's Jaune's partner."

Likewise, Lilly grabbed Bardel by the arm and pulled him closer, much to his chagrin. "This is Bardel Juno Armas, I just call him Bardy, and he's Tielle's friend as well. He has a short temper but he's a good person at heart."

"Fuck off, Lilly," Bardel said while yanking his arm off Lilly's hold. The act made the atmosphere between them a little awkward for others to watch, but then they remembered how Tiella was also a potty-mouth, so Lilly was highly likely used to it already.

"See? Short temper," Lilly said, her smile unwavering. "Again, he's kind at heart. He's just not good with words."

"Seriously, fuck off."

"His swearing is just his way of covering up his embarrassment at socializing."

Bardel grabbed Lilly's head after being incensed so much. He was grinding his teeth and was fiercely glaring at Lilly. " _Fuck. Off._ _Lillianne._ "

"He's just embarrassed." Lilly continued nonetheless. "Don't mind him."

Bardel lifted Lilly off the ground and threw her out the window—except Lilly managed to grab on to Bardel's arm tightly so she was being waved around like a flag instead. The gang watched with wry smiles before Nora asked another question.

"Does that mean that every time Tiella swears, she was just embarrassed and was trying to cover it up?"

Bardel put Lilly down after failing to throw her away. He crossed his arms with a harrumph and leaned on the wall. Lilly fixed her hair and clothes while answering Nora's question. "No, Tielle really just grew up with a dirty mouth."

"Why?" Jaune asked.

"That's because Tielle grew up surrounded by former soldiers—or so she says."

"You're not sure?" Pyrrha asked.

"We've only known each other for 6 months, you see. But after everything we went through together, we're already fast friends!" Lilly beamed.

"So that's why!" Yang noted.

"I don't mean to derail our topic," Weiss interjected. "but I believe we should have lunch already."

"Ah!" Lilly clasped her hands together. "That's right! We have a meeting with the Headmaster to go to immediately so I believe we should get going. Can you tell us how to get there?"

"A meeting with Professor Ozpin?" Blake wondered. "What for, if I may?"

"It's something concerning Tielle and us," Lilly said after glancing at Bardel. "Perhaps you as well just because you've already become good friends with her."

"Us, too?" Weiss repeated with a curious look, much like the rest of her friends.

"If you'd like, you can join us." Lilly offered, receiving a questioning brow raised from Bardel.

* * *

"What did you think you were doing!?"

Tiella was plopped on her ass on the Deputy Headmistress's office's floor harshly as she was berated by the Deputy Headmistress herself.

"Do you have any idea of the kind of rumors your words and actions would cause around the school!?"

Tiella stood and dusted herself off with a sigh. She fixed her clothes and her hair as she listened to Glynda rant about reputation and morals and whatnot. She wryly smiled at Glynda while tuning out most of her words. Having had enough, Tiella took Glynda's hand, which caused the ranting woman to rant over a different topic in confusion. Tiella grinned and casually placed Glynda's hand atop her left boob.

"Let's calm down, okay?" Tiella said. "Getting angry and ranting like that all the time is gonna give you even more wrinkles on your pretty face." She winked.

Glynda stood stock-still for a few moments while staring blankly at the younger girl and her hand—particularly what she was touching—before she pulled her hand back and slapped the living daylights out of her again, smashing through her Aura and all.

" _Shameless!_ "

Tiella forcefully spun three times in the air while blood spurted from her nose and mouth before she fell and hit her head hard on the floor. Knocked unconscious with her eyes still spinning, Glynda sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose. She carried Tiella to lay her on the couch—or she tried after a bit of effort and failed due to how heavy the girl was. So instead, Glynda used her Telekinesis again to lift Tiella up and gently plop her down on the couch after she sat down first, giving the girl another lap pillow.

She sighed. _"I can't believe I fell in love with this idiot."_

She pulled some tissue from the tissue box in one of the drawers of her desk with her Telekinesis and plucked them out of the air. She gently wiped the blood off Tiella's face and immediately she noticed the girl wearing a goofy smile even while unconscious. She couldn't help but let out another exasperated sigh before a small smile spread across her face.

 _"What an idiot—how did I fall for this idiot? Does that make me an idiot as well for falling for one? 800 million people in the world and I fall for someone from another world."_

She ran her fingers over Tiella's fringes, gently brushing them away to reveal more of her eyes. She softly stroked the scar that ran diagonally across her forehead—running from her forehead up to just below her left eyebrow. She always wondered how she got her scars.

 _"Perhaps we would all end up scar-riddled like her one way or another if Aura was never discovered?"_

Suddenly, Tiella shifted in place, her hands reaching up and cupping Glynda's cheeks before she was pulled closer—just a few centimeters between them. She wondered if Tiella was going to try to kiss her in her sleep again but before she could pull her face away, she felt a quick peck on her lips.

"Gotcha," Tiella whispered in a sultry voice.

Glynda pouted as she stared into golden pools and a sly grin.

"You're really shameless."

"I am—but, honey, you gotta ease off the bitch slaps." Tiella chuckled. "I think I heard my mom calling me for a second there."

"You wouldn't have to worry about the slaps if you weren't so _brazen_."

"Don't blame me for wanting to kiss you all day."

Glynda sighed. "Only do it when we're alone."

"Okay." Tiella grinned, pulling Glynda closer again for a longer kiss. Tiella pushed up while Glynda pushed back, each savoring the other's sensation on their lips. "Now's fine, right?"

"Did you just put your tongue in my mouth?"

"Didn't you just meet mine with yours?"

"You really _are_ shameless."

"Only for you." Tiella grinned salaciously. "And what does that say about you when you reciprocated in kind, hmm?"

Glynda sighed once more. "Get up, we have a meeting with the Headmaster." She pulled away, though she was still held in place because of Tiella's hold on her cheeks.

"I'm sure Ozpin can wait a few more minutes," she said in her sultry voice.

"We need to eat lunch as well." Glynda reasoned.

"You and I both know we'll be doing some of _that_ in just a few minutes," Tiella whispered, her sly, salacious grin spread wider across her face.

"Stop," Glynda said, placing a finger over Tiella's lips. It made the younger girl both confused and worried about whether she was taking things too fast. "You'll have to take me out to dinner first," she said with a faint flush on her cheeks as a small half-smile adorned her face. "There should be an order to these things, you know?"

Tiella giggled, touching Glynda's forehead with hers. "It's a date then."

"So it is." Glynda smiled. "Now get up," she said, prompting the younger girl to get up from her lap. "We need to meet up with the Headmaster. We can talk about the date after."

Tiella sighed, a little disappointed that she had to relieve herself of Glynda's heavenly lap. As soon as she did, she felt a strong need to feel Glynda's touch against hers again. She watched Glynda walked towards the door, still feeling a little surreal over the fact that she was now her significant other.

"How about a kiss before we go?" She teased with a wink and a salacious grin, relaxing on one leg with a hand on her waist.

Glynda paused in her steps to turn and face Tiella. She eyed the girl with an incredulous brow raised and a hand on her waist. Wordlessly, she walked up to Tiella and placed a hand on her other waist before she slightly pulled Tiella closer for a quick kiss on the lips. Tiella was surprised, elated that Glynda easily did just as she teasingly asked her to do. In response, she wrapped her arm around Glynda's waist and pulled her closer for a longer, deeper kiss.

As they both let go, Tiella giggled while cupping Glynda's left cheek. " _God_ , I love you."

Glynda leaned into Tiella's touch, eyes closed as she focused on the warm touch on her cheek. "And I you," she said.

Glynda touched Tiella's cheek as well to stroke it with her thumb, though as soon as she did, Tiella flinched away with a little shriek of pain. Anxious and worried, Glynda took Tiella's hands into her own.

"What's wrong?"

Tiella sucked in a sharp breath and shakily released it through clenched teeth. "That bitch slap still stings." She smiled wryly.

Glynda smiled wryly as soon as she heard Tiella's reason, thoughts of unintentionally hurting the girl vanishing from her worries. Glynda cupped Tiella's other cheek, the one that wasn't ' _bitch slapped_ ', and pulled her closer to land a kiss on the pained cheek.

"That's your punishment for being so brazen in public. No more of that at least when we're within school grounds, okay?" Glynda lightly scolded. "And I'm sure your Aura will come back in no time."

Tiella scoffed playfully, feeling butterflies in her stomach as soon as she felt Glynda's lips on her cheek. "I lived my life until just recently without Aura—I think I'll be fine."

* * *

 _Atop the Grand Clocktower..._

"My apologies for suddenly bringing these children with me, Headmaster, but I believe that they should hear what I'm about to tell you."

Lilly stood in front of the Headmaster's desk and behind her was her entourage consisting if Bardel, RWBY sans Ruby, and Team JNPR. Her ever-present smile was reflected on Ozpin's glasses as she carefully but stoically scrutinized the girl, almost ignoring the fact that there were others in the room. He had a mugful of strong hot coffee atop his desk as always and yet he hadn't even given it a glance since the girl came in.

"Very well." Ozpin nodded, giving his consent. "My apologies for the lack of seats."

"It's fine, Headmaster, your students can sit—Bardy and I can stand."

Ozpin briefly glanced at his students who were still unsure of whether to take their seats or not. "As you wish," he said, gesturing for his students to occupy the couches and chairs—to which his students somewhat warily followed.

"Would you like something to eat?" Ozpin offered, gesturing over the coffee table in the middle of the room where there was a wide variety of finger food—ranging from puff-pastries to sandwiches of different fillings. There were also tea, coffee, milk, and water served as drinks. "I only fear that it won't be enough for Tiella alone when she arrives." He smiled wryly.

"That _is_ a valid worry." Lillianne smiled wryly as well. "Tiella by herself can probably finish all that and still ask for seconds, but now you also have this big boy to feed," she said while pointing at Bardel with her thumb.

"Fuck off."

"Am I wrong?"

"..."

"If it isn't too much to ask, Headmaster, would it be fine if we asked for more?"

"Damn, Lilly, shameless as ever," Bardel commented while looking away with a head shake.

"What was that, Bardy?" Lilly smiled looking back at Bardel, though, her eyes didn't share the same gleam. "Why didn't you say you were already full! My apologies again, Headmaster, but you don't have to worry about Bardy after all."

The room was silent for a few short moments aside from a couple of stifled laughter coming from Nora and Yang until it was broken by the sound of a loud rumbling stomach—which elicited even more laughter from more students.

"..."

" _Well, well, we—_ "

"I'm sure I can whip up enough for everyone." Ozpin intervened, giving Bardel an apologetic smile. He fetched his scroll and sent a message to the kitchen staff to deliver more to his office.

Lilly smiled gratefully, slightly bowing her head at Ozpin. "My thanks, Headmaster." She lightly slapped Bardel's elbow to grab his attention and whispered. "Show some manners, idiot!"

Bardel, in response, clicked his tongue with a barely hidden disdain while avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room.

"It is of no concern," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Please, eat—we can wait for Tiella and Professor Goodwitch in the meantime."

"With pleasure," Lilly smiled, lightly pushing Bardel towards the table for them to start eating as they waited.

As they ate and waited for the next few minutes, the sound of the door swinging open caught their attention. Behind it were Tiella, proudly grinning with a bright red handprint over her left cheek, and Glynda, massaging the side of her head while practicing steady, calming breaths.

"Looks like the gang's all here." Tiella grinned, haughtily placing both hands on her waist as she gave the room a glance. She wondered why students were also with them until her eyes landed on the table in the middle of the room. "And so is lunch—perfect!" she said, aiming for a pork cutlet sandwich that was quickly stolen away by Bardel, who quickly tossed the sandwich into his mouth. " _Asshole!_ "

"First come, first serve, bitch!"

"Then you get to be the first to fucking die in this room you _cheeky fucking cu—_ "

" _Children,_ " Glynda said while gnashing her teeth with a throbbing vein on her forehead. " _behave._ " She flicked her riding crop up as if it was a maestro's conducting baton, lifting and constraining both Tiella and Bardel off the floor.

"What are you gonna do? _Spank m—_ "

Tiella's mouth was clamped shut as she glared at Bardel while Bardel sent his glares at both Tiella and Glynda. He struggled to break free from Glynda's Telekinetic hold and only found himself in even more pain than when it started.

"You're better off stopping your attempts at escapin—"

Glynda's words were cut short when she saw Bardel actually managing to move while being constricted. Her eyes turned fierce as she tightened her hold even more on the boy as she's not one to let herself lose so easily. After a few more seconds of struggling, Bardel managed to flip both Tiella and Glynda the bird as his eyes lit aflame with rage. Shortly after, he forcefully pulled his arms closer to himself and successfully broke free from Glynda's hold—stunning everyone in the room, except for his teammates, to utter silence.

 _"How!?"_

Glynda panicked in her mind. She was so shocked that she hadn't noticed that she'd also let go of her hold on Tiella. Her Telekinesis has never been broken through sheer physical strength alone before. She could stop building tops from crushing pedestrians with ease, lift tons upon tons of debris without breaking a sweat, decimate hordes of Grimm with a flick of her wrist, and even contain explosions comparable to 30 pounds of government-grade C4 to something less than mildly alarming on her lazy days.

She watched in pure shock and awe at the boy who was angrily stretching his limbs, back, and neck before he started cracking his knuckles while glaring at her with a mad grin.

"I knew you were strong." Bardel's vision turned red as he stared at Glynda longer. "Looks like not all Aura punks are weakass pussies, after all!"

His words brought a heavy tension to the room, each student alerted to a possible fight between Tiella's friend and their professor. The tension in the air rose even higher when they saw Bardel pull his arm far back for a swing—and just the act of him pulling his arm back by itself already summoned a breeze that followed his motion. Each person in the room prepared themselves for some form of explosive power to come out of the punch, though, before Bardel even had the chance to finish pulling back, he was already hit by a _blindingly fast_ and _extremely precise_ punch to his chin from his right and a _powerful_ kick to both the back of his knees from his left—forcing him to kneel with his hands on the floor after becoming disoriented for a quick second.

" _Now, now,_ Bardy." Lilly scolded, her smile never wavering despite her eyes appearing shades darker to Bardel. "You shouldn't attack our hosts willy-nilly. If you want a spar with them, then you have to get their consent first!"

"Calm your tits, _dumbass_." Tiella tossed a sandwich to her mouth while shaking the hand she punched Bardel with. "Don't get me fired—I actually like my job here. And you're gonna blow all _my_ food away, dipshit." She swallowed her sandwich and downed it with a few glugs of milk. "Damn, I just remembered how hard your face is if I hit it without Aura. I'm starting to get soft."

 _"Without Aura!?"_

The Beacon students' thoughts were blown away once again as they watched the exchange of what looked to be a normal day for the trio with incredulous looks.

 _"Even without Aura, she could move that fast!? And she helped stop that monster from attacking!?"_

"How did you do that without Aura? No, wait, why don't you have your Aura up right now?" Yang asked, unable to not voice her curiosity for a second longer. "I thought you didn't know how to turn it off?"

Bardel stood from the floor and scratched the back of his head while walking to the side of the room to lean on a wall, annoyed that his fun was stopped even before it could begin. Tiella smirked at Yang, then at Glynda, who was still staring at the Mercenary trio dumbfounded, then back at Yang.

"Well, you see, I got the living daylights slapped out of me a while ago," she said, pointing at the bright red handprint on her left cheek. "See?"

"Is it because you were openly flirting with Professor Goodwitch earlier?" Yang asked with a grin.

Tiella grinned wider, looking between Yang and Glynda again, though, this time, Glynda was glaring at her as if daring her to continue.

"Nah," was all Tiella said in her signature shit-eating grin. "I think I'll keep that to myself, I choose life."

"Ok," Yang kept grinning, already having an idea forming in her head. "But how did you do that without Aura?"

"Like usual," Tiella stated matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean 'like usual'? That was, like, without passive Aura enhancement!"

"Do your workouts properly and you might reach that level even without Aura someday," Tiella said smugly. "Honestly, I'd suggest you do all your training without Aura, but you got your own Semblances to practice with."

"True." Yang nodded.

"Ladies," Ozpin interrupted. "I believe that we may begin the meeting. Ms. Lilly, if you would, please," he said, giving the girl a nod and a look.

"Gladly, Headmaster." Lilly nodded, standing in front of the Headmaster's desk once more. "But before we begin, I'd just like to confirm a few things." She slightly tilted her head behind her, in the direction of his students. "Don't worry about them knowing, I brought them here for that reason."

Tiella watched and listened stoically from one corner of the room after having her fill while Bardel did the same as well. Glynda stood beside Ozpin's desk and was noting things down on her scroll.

 _"What are you thinking, Lilly?"_ Tiella thought as she absentmindedly stroked her fingers with her thumb, feeling the rough and tough material of the palm-side of Pepper.

Ozpin carefully eyed the girl once more, noting the heavy feeling once again weighing down on him as if he was just sunk 10,000 leagues under the sea. He stared back at the girl's lilac eyes and found himself lost for what felt like an eternity, though, in reality, it was nothing more than a blink. Unable to keep his composure any longer, he looked away after releasing the pent-up breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He quickly reached for his mug and quickly downed its entirety in one long gulp. The act itself surprised everyone sans the mercenary trio, even more so for Glynda as she'd never seen Ozpin acting even close to the very definition of the word 'nervous' in all the time she'd known the man.

"My apologies, Glynda, but can you fetch me more?" Ozpin said while giving Glynda a somewhat tired smile which puzzled her even more.

It took a couple of seconds before Glynda registered the request Ozpin had for her. "Y-Yes, of course." And immediately she made a large batch of freshly ground coffee, the aroma of it spreading in the room.

As Glynda prepared his next few mugfuls, Ozpin addressed Lilly—no, _Lillianne_ —once more. "Very well."

Lilly smiled regally and Ozpin felt as if he was experiencing what it was like to be in the presence of the Queen he once served all those centuries ago for the first time all over again. "Don't worry, Headmaster, I won't take long," she said, her eyes glowing briefly before she smiled a little wider. "I just need you to look me in the eyes for a little longer than a blink this time."

The moment Ozpin saw the glow in her eyes was the exact moment he felt as if he was stripped bare—down to his very soul. And he firmly believed that every dirty little secret he'd been hiding had just been unveiled to her, down to the first time he wet his bed and was scolded by his first birth mother.

Lillianne flinched her head away as her eyes reflexively closed tight, her ever-present smile showing signs of pain felt, yet it held strong. "Well, well, well... _Headmaster Ozpin,_ " she started, though it slowly turned into a very hushed whisper. "Or should I say..."

Ozpin's attention was taken away by Lillianne's finger being dragged across the table. For the first few seconds, it looked like she was simply scribbling aimlessly until he recognized the strokes made by her finger—an old and ancient writing that was older than _Remnant_ itself. His eyes squinted, hard focused while bullets of sweat poured as he watched and waited for Lillianne to finish writing her message for him.

 _"'Ozma, Legendary Hero of the Lost Kingdom of Valenti, lover to the Queen of Grimm, Salem, and father to the first Four Maidens.'"_

Ozpin visibly turned ghastly pale, unable to comprehend the impossibility and irrationality the girl before him just presented. The absurdity of someone finding out— _of someone from another world finding out_ —without even needing a halfway decent conversation with him shattered whatever semblance of composure he had left. By the time Glynda returned with Ozpin's request, he was already leaning back in his chair with eyes wide, just staring at the ceiling in deep contemplation.

 _"Damn, Lilly showed no mercy, huh? I don't know what she found out and used against him but, boy, oh, boy, she got him real good."_ Tiella was scornfully grinning at the sight before she glanced at the students who were utterly shocked and confused by how Ozpin had reacted to seemingly nothing.

Ozpin stood from his chair and pressed some buttons on his scroll. Suddenly, a portion of the floor rose up and it revealed one bottle chilled to the brim by Ice Dust. He slowly took it out and turned to face Glynda—revealing his strongest liquor, a 200-something-year-old Mistralian classic called _The Spiritus_.

"Ozpin, what do you think you're doing in front of your stu—"

Glynda's scolding was immediately interrupted by a hand from Ozpin, which has never happened before as he usually lets her have her say or at least let her finish voicing her thoughts.

"This bottle is something I've been hiding in reserve for a _very_ long time now. I've had it stashed away for one particular event—an event I've honestly long since lost hope that I would ever see," he said while fondly looking at the bottle in his hands. "This is the Spiritus, made in Mistral and it has a 96% alcohol level with 192 proof."

As soon as he said that, he heard a _very_ impressed whistle from across the room coming from a tall redhead. " _Daaaaaamn_ , what I'd do to get some of that."

"You and your stupid obsession with alcohol," Bardel commented from the side.

" _Liquor_ , you dumbfuck, it's called _liquor_ and it's the _best damn thing_ humanity's ever created. An _uncultured fuckwit_ like you wouldn't know _peak culture_ even if it fucked you in every hole you got." She passionately retorted while flipping him off, earning a few approving nods from Ozpin.

"She's right, liquor was, is, and will always be Humanity's greatest creation," Ozpin commented while gently placing down the bottle on his desk.

"Please," Bardel scoffed. "it gets in the way of fighting."

"Wait, did anyone hear that?" Tiella asked mockingly, she put a hand behind her ear as if trying to hear something out better. "Sounds like _fucking pussy_ in here and it isn't the good kind."

"I'm not wrong, bitch."

"Sounds like you wanna get proven wrong."

"Sounds like you're asking for a beating."

"8 o'clock, room 12 in the sparring arenas—I'll get shitfaced drunk and beat the fuck out of you till next Monday."

"You're on!"

"I can't believe this..." Glynda massaged her temples once again as she groaned.

In the middle of the room, Yang and Nora were already excited and couldn't wait for the time of the match to arrive. Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha were smiling wryly at what they heard but were still looking forward to it nonetheless. Weiss was having the same headache Glynda was having while Blake had been wondering about everything that's been happening so far.

"While I'd personally be happy to see Mr. Armas proven wrong," Ozpin interjected. "I'd like to get back to the reason why I took this bottle out."

"Hopefully because you wanna share." Tiella grinned.

"That's correct." Ozpin smiled, taking out two shot glasses from one of the drawers on his desk, much to Glynda's further dismay. "Going back to liquor being Humanity's greatest invention, I don't simply say that to agree with Tiella. Liquor, throughout history, has been proven to be the reason why alliances between kingdoms and other smaller territories were successfully made."

He poured to fill one shot glass for him, "It is what made the pacts that we now serve and hold dear. It is through liquor that peace talks and celebrations were made easier." He poured the other shot glass full before placing it directly in front of Lillianne. "And I hope to build an alliance with you three much like the Four Kingdoms have made an alliance to eternally stand against the Grimm for Humanity."

The statement sent shockwaves through the minds of everyone present in the room, even Bardel and Tiella couldn't easily shrug off what Ozpin said just as easily. And yet, it looked as if it was going as expected to a certain black-haired woman.

"And by Humanity, I mean to include all walks of life." Ozpin continued, raising his shot glass to toast with Lillianne, letting his words be heard by all—especially to the one Faunus in hiding.

Lillianne's regal smile appeared to make her glow in Ozpin's eyes while she easily accepted the shot glass and raised it, ready to make the toast, though, before she proceeded, she asked Ozpin one question. "Are you sure you want to agree to this alliance even before you've heard of our terms? For all you know, I could be secretly planning to have you hand over all of Vale to me."

History was being made right that moment, and the people that were there were both ecstatic and anxious that they were there to witness it. Ecstatic that they could tell their kids and grandkids exactly how it went according to their memory and anxious that perhaps they could do something to be written down in history as well. They were in a precarious position where they do one wrong move and they could be remembered as the one who ruined it all. Though, ' _it_ ' was still a subject yet to be truly discussed. All they understood was that Lilly was supposed to ask Ozpin about something but all she did was have him look her in the eyes and, _voila_ , Ozpin was acting as if he just had just struck a great deal with a Queen of a powerful kingdom.

Ozpin smiled at her words before slightly lowering his hand. "Truth be told, I peeked into your Soul when you first came here last night."

"Oh?" The statement caught Lillianne's interest greatly while the others were simply wondering how Ozpin did as he said.

"Yes." He chuckled. "You were fast asleep _for some reason_ ," he said, giving Tiella a quick glance who was simply giving him a smug look. "and looking at you made me feel that I should keep a close eye on you."

"And what did you find?"

"That there's nothing quite like you in the long history of this world, even counting the _long forgotten past_. Looking at you reminds me of the Sun in its most majestic form—pure and bright, almost blindingly and scaldingly so." He reminisced while nostalgically staring at his shot glass. "I daresay that you, should you choose to help us, are the key to saving Remnant. Of course, I will do my best to make it worth your while."

"I see." Lilly held her chin in thought as she slowly took in Ozpin's words. Meanwhile, the rest of the people in the room were slowly beginning to either wonder or realize the true nature of the girl negotiating with their Headmaster. "I'm curious, Headmaster... let's say I believe what you say, have you peeked at Tielle's and Bardy's souls?"

"I can't say I have, but very well."

Ozpin briefly peeked at the two's souls. First was Tiella, and looking at her, he found nothing quite out of the ordinary except for a bright red radiance at first glance, though, a closer inspection revealed an ink-like blackness at the center of her Soul. An impurity, so to speak, and it sent him on high alert as he was reminded of a certain event concerning a human that turned into a Grimm. He focused intently on Tiella to learn more and found that the black thing in her soul was still lying dormant at the moment, much to his great relief.

"I see a bright red radiance, burning bright like a star at the dead of the night." The statement caught Tiella off guard, making her look away in embarrassment of what felt like sap coming from Ozpin, though, the feeling disappeared as soon as she heard the rest of what Ozpin had to say. "And yet, I see what is comparable to a tiny spot of ink on an otherwise blank sheet of paper. What this means, I'm not sure, however, I know that it currently holds no power over you."

Tiella's eyes squinted as she stoically looked back at Ozpin, absentmindedly holding the left side of her chest in contemplation while a memory she'd want nothing more than to forget resurfaced to the forefront of her mind.

 _"_ _ **'I can fix that.'**_ _"_

Her grip tightened at the memory, a scowl on her face appearing as she looked to the side in annoyance. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.

Ozpin sighed at the reaction, understanding that he'd likely opened up an old wound he'd rather not poke any longer. He turned his gaze to Bardel and quickly he was assaulted by an intense brightness that nearly rivaled Lillianne's. It was far from being as big, but it was definitely bright. A bright orange light took up nearly everything in his vision and it appeared to simply grow brighter the longer he stared.

Ozpin shut his eyes as he looked away, massaging them for a bit before he opened them again to look back at Bardel, and oddly enough, he found that his Soul appeared normal. Was he simply hallucinating? He wasn't quite sure, but it did make him wonder if carrying on with drinking the shot of Spiritus was going to be a good idea after what he saw.

Ozpin let out a sigh, seemingly in inevitable acceptance that anything related to the trio was more likely to be abnormal than simply normal—for better or for worse. "I see in Mr. Armas an ever-growing brightness that nearly swallowed me whole... and it was so bright that I had to shut my eyes and look away, however, when I looked back, it appeared as nothing more than your average Soul." He gave Lillianne a smile. "Does that answer your question?"

"Indeed!" Lillianne beamed, happy about the answers she received—it was similar to what she found in her friends after all. She raised the hand that held the shot glass and smiled regally once more. "A toast."

Ozpin raised his as well. "A toast."

They softly clinked their shot glasses together and quickly they downed their drinks in one gulp. Ozpin let out a very contented sigh. He felt his body heat up despite the fact that the drink had been kept chilling all this time. He felt a strong kick to his head as soon as he downed the shot, groggily shaking his head with eyes closed as he savored the burning sensation traveling down his throat. He looked ahead, to the girl he just made a deal he knew could never go wrong with, and found that her face was already bright red and that she was smiling goofily at him—any semblance of the regality that she'd kept up till that moment disappearing as if she never was.

Lilly chortled, tilting her head the other side. "This is a _niiice~_ " she hiccuped "niiice~ _drink_ , Headmaster." She was wobbling in place as she spoke and exaggeratedly gave Ozpin an 'OK' sign. "Nice driiink~! Cheeeellle, Baldyyy~ this is a nice driiink~!" She chuckled.

"' _Baldy!?_ '" Tiella repeated with a shit-eating grin while Bardel simply looked annoyed and wanted nothing more than to get out of the room. "That's fucking gold, Lilly! Give me some of that!"

" _Okaaay~!_ " Lilly flashed Tiella an 'OK' sign and looked to Ozpin. She tilted her head cutely from side to side while asking, "Is it okaaay~, Headmashter~?" She put a demure hand over her lips. "Oops! Ahahahaha! I shaid 'Headmashter'~!" Lilly laughed while slapping the desk a couple of times.

The act looked positively adorable to Ozpin which made it easy for him to approve of Lilly's request, though, Glynda _begged_ to disagree. Nonetheless, she would trust Ozpin, just as she always had, and so she let things be, _begrudgingly_.

"Very well, Ms. Lillianne." Ozpin smiled, he glanced at the students as if he just remembered that they were there. "And students, please, partake in more of our lunch. Today is a joyous occasion and I'll make it so that you won't have to attend the rest of your classes for today."

" _Woooo!_ " Yang jumped from her seat in excitement, already joining in the celebration while the rest were still a little in disbelief.

Weiss was glad that she didn't have to attend afternoon classes as well, but she shared a confused look with Blake before she voiced her question to Ozpin. "Excuse me, Professor Ozpin, not to sound impudent but what about the rest of the meeting? And if we're truly allowed to be here, what did everything that just happen mean? I understand that you've formed a sort of alliance with Lilly and the rest, but... but of _what?_ And what could _possibly_ warrant one in the first place?" She realized that she'd begun rambling her questions to the Headmaster and stopped herself before she could go any further. "I-I'm sorry if—"

"All your questions are valid, Ms. Schnee," Ozpin assured. He looked to Lilly and found her singing with an arm over Tiella while tiptoeing as Tiella swayed along to Lilly's rhyme and rhythm.

"You and I~!"

Lilly sang at the top of her lungs as she handed one of the two shot glasses she held to Tiella. Greatly amused, Tiella quietly accepted and downed the offered drink with a huge smile on her face, clearly enjoying her time.

"Know what it's like~  
To be kicked down~  
Forced to fight~!"

Lilly was about to down her second shot before it was taken away by Tiella. "Oh, no you don't. One shot and you're drunk as fuck already." Nonetheless, Lilly continued singing unperturbed.

"But tonight~  
We're alright~!  
So hold up the lights~!  
Let it _shiiine~!_ "

The singing caught everyone's attention in the room, and after two shots, Tiella was already being carried away in the heat of the moment, so she gave Lilly a ride on her shoulders as Lilly continued singing—Tiella swaying and spinning as they did.

"'Cause...

This one's for you and me~!  
Living out our dreams~!  
We're all right where we should be~!"

Lilly spread her arms out while holding a shot glass in each hand, then leaned far back enough for her to become parallel to the ground as Tiella held her in place.

"With my arms out wide~!  
I open my eyes~!"

Her voice captivated all that heard her sing, unable to tear their attention away from Lilly, who was still perched up Tiella's shoulders.

"And now, all I wanna see~!"

Lilly sat upright and pointed at Ozpin in her most charming smile and it nearly made Ozpin's heart skip a beat.

"Is a sky full of lighters~"

Lilly stood on Tiella's shoulders as Tiella spun on her heel twice.

" _A sky full of lighters~..._ "

And Lilly let herself fall backwards, she nearly hit the floor before she was grabbed by Tiella by the arm and was spun upright to Tiella's arm inward then outward—both of them ending their little dance with hands held together as they spread their arms out, holding one shot glass each.

Yang was whistling loudly with her fingers and cheering. Nora was asking for an encore while her arm was coiled around Ren's while Ren simply and quietly enjoyed the moment. Jaune was still captivated with goosebumps all over his body and the sight of it sent a slight churning in Pyrrha's stomach, nonetheless, she enjoyed the short song immensely. Weiss was _stunned_ , even more so than Jaune had been. Blake just realized that the friend Tiella was talking about a week ago that put the sappy songs on her playlist was standing before her.

Tiella sent Glynda a warm smile while Glynda sent a playfully exasperated smile of her own, though discreetly. However, a certain blonde brawler and a black cat noticed the exchange and it made them share a knowing look with each other.

"Ahem," Ozpin called after letting his students applaud Lilly. "Ms. Lillianne, can you still continue this meeting?"

His statement brought down the high tension from just now back to how it was before Lilly got drunk, though most of them still felt a little jittery after hearing Lilly sing so beautifully in such a clear and captivating voice.

"Of cooourse~" Lilly gave Ozpin two 'OK' signs paired with her silly smile.

"We're good, Ozzy~" Tiella chimed, face a little bright red as well as she not-so-discreetly sent Glynda winks and ravenous stares. "I'm purty sure shit's gone get real inna bit so lemme 'ave a smoke 'cause I know I saw ya with a big fat piece of tobacco, Ozzy~" Earning a wry smile from Ozpin.

"I like the Headmashter's new nickname, Chelle!" Lilly cackled, "It's like you're calling him an Aussie!"

"Fuck off with you and your shite puns, Lilly~"

"But you love me~"

"True~"

"You're not allowed to smoke within school premises." Glynda massaged her temple as she gave Tiella another exasperated look.

"Guess we should get the fuck outta here because we're _fuckin' smokin' hot,_ Glynda~" Tiella proudly pointed finger guns at her, smug aura emanating strongly.

"I will kick you out regardless if you don't stop." Glynda shut her eyes tight, unable to look at Tiella any longer, lest Tiella baits her harder.

"Make me." Tiella teased, sending Glynda another wink.

Glynda crossed her arms in resignation and sighed in annoyance. "I blame you for this, Ozpin,"

"Well," Ozpin scratched his cheek. "We'll see if we can continue or not. Ms. Lillianne, can you answer Ms. Schnee's earlier questions?"

Lilly saluted goofily, tilting her head to the side in a cutesy manner while sticking out her tongue. "Ok~!"

Weiss found the hard to watch as it was both adorable and disillusioning of the graceful, elegant, and cheery girl she met last night. So she didn't know whether to coo at Lilly's cuteness or hide her face in her hands as she felt embarrassed for the girl instead.

"You see, you see~..." Lilly started, drawling out the ends of her sentences. She chuckled a little before she managed to continue. "You see, you see~ Me and Chelle and Baldy aren't from here~"

"Well, I understand _that_ much at least."

"No, no, no~!" Lilly made an 'x' mark with her index fingers. "Buu buu buu~!"

"W-Wha—"

"We're not from Remnant~!" Lilly cheered. "We're not even Huntstersses- Hunsters~... Hunstwomenses~! Ahahahaha, I stuttered~!"

"I..." Weiss said, _very_ confused. "I don't think she's in any condition to continue the meeting, Professor Ozpin."

"Yes, I can!" Lilly saluted, placing a fist over her heart.

"Is that so?" Weiss asked incredulously, brow raised disbelievingly.

"Yeah!" She beamed, and it was incredibly charming.

"Can you tell the time, then?" Weiss dared, testing Lilly's remaining vestiges of sanity.

"Okay~!" Lilly saluted again. She faced the clock on the wall showing that it was already 12:35 pm and pointed her finger at it. "I can continue the meeting~!" She exclaimed, practically glowing as she beamed back at Weiss, positively proud of herself for being able to do as Weiss said and ' _prove her wrong_ '.

The room was silent as most of the people were confused for a second until their attention was taken by the sound of Yang choking and coughing into her hand as she tried her damnedest not to laugh, though she failed miserably as her choking eventually evolved into full-on jovial laughter with her doubling over while tapping the desk loudly and having a hard time breathing.

Eventually, Ren, Weiss, and Blake shook their heads as they also chuckled uncontrollably after understanding the reason Yang was laughing so hard. Nora followed next with a loud "Oooohhh! She _told_ the time, Jaune! She _told the time!_ "

Jaune was already hiding his mouth behind his hands as his body shook from laughter while Pyrrha did just as well.

Meanwhile, at one corner of the room where no one's attention was gathered, Tiella was drunkenly and aggressively coming onto Glynda.

"You know, Glynda..."

"Please go away."

"I really, really, really, really fucking love you, you know that?"

"I know, so please go away."

Tiella had tears welling in her eyes as she pouted after hearing Glynda's words.

"Y-You don't want me here...? Am I bothering you...?" Tiella asked, lips quivering as her eyes slowly went to the floor. "I'm sorry..."

Tiella's words and actions sent a painful pang of guilt straight into Glynda's heart and it was almost unbearable for her to keep looking. "N-No! T-That's not what I me—"

"Then you gotta kiss me." Tiella quickly interjected without raising her head to meet Glynda's now doubtful gaze.

"Are you playing me right now?" Glynda ducked a little to peek at Tiella's expression, but Tiella moved her face away before she could see anything. "Tiella? Show me your face." She whispered sternly.

Tiella slowly and begrudgingly turned her face to show Glynda, though her eyes were still cast to the side and down, unwilling to meet Glynda's eyes. Glynda's heart dropped a little the moment she saw Tiella actually shedding a few tears as her lips quivered and pouted. She gaped at her dearly beloved's drunken expression and unknowingly placed a hand to her own heart.

 _"I... This is... a puppy."_

Glynda gawked at the sight for a few moments longer while Tiella's lips continued quivering. Tiella wanted to hide her face away once again but her head was held in place by Glynda's gentle hold on her cheeks.

 _"I fell in love with an idiot that turns into a puppy when rejected while drunk. And right now it's like I just kicked a puppy and I feel so bad about it but she looks so cute."_

"I'll just go into the corner of the room where you won't see me..." Tiella said, ducking her head from Glynda's view once more.

 _"My heart!"_

"W-Wait!" Glynda whispered in a panic, cupping Tiella's cheeks again to make sure she's looking at her face directly. "Y-You remember what I said earlier, don't you? N-No public displays of affection when within school grounds!"

"But I just love you _so_ much..."

And it was as if an arrow struck Glynda's heart—a sharp pain throbbing in the middle of her chest. She watched in a mixture of guilt and pleasure at the sight of Tiella acting so emotionally wrecked. She discreetly looked around the room to check whether someone's noticed them yet and mentally sighed in relief when she found that no one other than Ozpin had been looking at them as they were all still laughing at Lilly making a fool of her drunken self.

"But you see, Tiella," Glynda said, ever so gently. As if she was a mother explaining something to her toddler. "We can't have rumors spreading around that may disrupt the school's public morals."

Tiella's lips quivered more and more the more Glynda tried to explain herself. A tear ran down her cheek and Glynda immediately noticed it. She watched with wide eyes as the tear raced down Tiella's cheek and touched her fingers. Unable to bear it any longer, she pulled Tiella for a quick hug, burying her face in her shoulder while gently caressing the back of Tiella's head.

"There, there..." Glynda shushed softly.

Tiella kept her arms to herself as she spoke in a muffled voice. "I knew you hated me."

"Shush, no I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"I love you."

"I don't deserve to be here…"

"Of course you do."

"You were just pitying me when you said you loved me."

"No, I wasn't. And you're drunk."

"No, I'm not..."

"Yes, you are."

"Am not..."

"Come on, you're just tired," Glynda said, making Tiella follow her further back, away from possible eyes that may wander, though—little did she know—the entire room already knew what they were doing and were simply trying their best to not let them know. "Sit down, for now, I'll get you a glass of water."

Yet.

"See? You're leaving me already..." Tiella curled on the floor as she hugged her knees tightly.

Glynda glanced around once more and found no one looking, so she ducked down and tilted Tiella's chin up—giving her a quick kiss. "I won't, so behave, okay?"

And suddenly there was a high-pitched squealing heard from just behind her, which made her turn abruptly. The thing she saw was _precisely_ what she feared—Ren was covering Nora's mouth with his hands looking like they were both just caught with their pants down while the rest of them were pointedly trying _not_ to look her way. Yang was ' _eating_ ', Weiss was ' _drinking coffee_ ', Blake was ' _counting her split-ends_ ', and so on while sneaking glances at them.

Glynda gaped, her face flushed a bright red not unlike Tiella's current drunken look. "T-This is—"

"Glynda," Ozpin called. She turned to look at him and found that he had a wry smile, proud and amused at everything that happened so far.

"This is all your fault, Ozpin!" Glynda yelled in a panic. "If you hadn't taken out that bottle, then we would've just had the meeting as per usual!"

"Yes, I do admit that this is all my doing."

"A-And now the students—"

"Uhm..." Yang gingerly interrupted while raising a shy hand up. "Sorry, Professor, but we, uh... we don't really mind. We sort of already know that Tiella's been crushing on you for, like, at least a week now."

" _Yang, what are you doing!?_ " Blake whispered angrily, slapping Yang's elbow to grab her attention.

"Whaaat?" Yang smiled wryly. "I'm just _sayin'_..." she said weakly, looking away in embarrassment while ducking and scratching the back of her head.

Glynda was about to say something when she felt arms wrap around her left arm. She turned and saw Tiella resting her head on her shoulder with a contented look on her face. "Ehehe..." Oblivious to the gushing and cooing from everyone else in the room. "I thought you hated me."

Glynda sighed into her hand, then exasperatedly rubbed her face with it, in an attempt to hide the smile forming on her face before sending daggers at Ozpin. She huffed air through her nose after a deep breath, deciding that anything she said wouldn't do anything anymore other than fuel more gushing. She glanced around the room with a stern look—about as stern as she could while a deep blush adorned her cheeks. She adjusted her glasses and spoke.

"Children," she said. "I'd appreciate it greatly if none of you spread word of this. Whatever happened in this room will _stay_ in this room. Do I make myself clear?"

"Clear as day, Professo—" Yang beamed with a thumbs up.

" _Do I make myself clear?_ " Glynda reiterated in her authoritative voice while glaring at her students. "Ms. Xiao Long? Ms. Valkyrie? Mr. Arc?"

" _Crystal, ma'am!_ " The students all answered as they panicked, especially the three that were called out.

Lilly cackled while clutching onto Bardel's arm for dear life as she struggled to stand straight. "Look, Baldy~! Grynda's emballasshed~! They're sho cute together~... Let's take picturesh!"

Bardel sighed and looked up at the ceiling, wondering whether every choice he made in his life truly led to this moment. "What the fuck am I doing stuck with drunks?"

Without moving from her place, Glynda sighed and raised her finger, waving it in the air. Everyone was confused for a moment until they heard clicking and clinking sounds behind them. They turned to look and found cups were being filled with steaming hot black coffee before they were all placed onto saucers. Glynda flourished her finger and just as she commanded, the floating cups and saucers flew to the two drunken ladies of the room.

Ignoring Lillianne taking photos of them and everyone else with her smartphone, Glynda fetched one out of the air while Bardel took the other. Gently, she shook her left arm to grab Tiella's attention and as soon as she got it, Tiella flashed her the warmest smile she'd ever seen from the girl. "Yes, dear?" She heard her say.

She was about to tiredly ask her to drink to knock the drunkenness away from her system but as soon as she saw Tiella's smile, she could do nothing more than let out another resigned sigh, feeling as if all of her fatigue and exasperation was just washed away.

"Drink this." She offered.

Tiella happily but lazily eyed the cup before nodding her head and taking it into her hands without uncoiling her arm from Glynda's. She was about to sip on it when she was stopped by Glynda. Confused, she watched Glynda gently blow on it a few times before she let Tiella finally take a sip.

Tiella gave Glynda a quick peck on the cheek before she sipped a good amount, and instantly, the strong bitter flavor knocked a bit of sense back into her as she felt the heat of it flow down her system like it was taking the alcohol—oh, sorry, _liquor_ —down with it. She felt refreshed, letting out a tired and contented sigh. She groggily looked ahead and found the Beacon kids watching her and Glynda with great amusement and it made her wonder why. She looked further ahead and found Lilly sipping at her coffee as well while sitting on Bardel's shoulders.

"Damn, this is some _strong_ coffee. I bet even Lilly would take her merry time with this." She noted with a wry grin. "Why is there a weird lapse in my memory? What just happened?" She turned her head to her right and was surprised to find Glynda's face just inches away from hers. Gaping at the _sudden_ _proximity_ , she looked away as her eyes darted around until she found her arm _somehow_ tangled with Glynda's.

"Wha—" Tiella stammered, face flushing for a different reason while looking between their interlocked arms, Glynda's face—cute and hot as it was even while looking mad—and their audience.

"What do you remember?" She heard Glynda ask so close to her ear.

"Uh... Lilly was singing, I think? Then I went to you and... I dunno?" Tiella chuckled nervously. "Is that related to this?" She asked, raising her hand together with Glynda's while their fingers were interlaced.

"Yes," Glynda said flatly before adjusting her glasses. "Would you like me to tell you?"

"Uuuhhhhhhh-I... don't think I'm ready to die socially just yet."

"Don't worry, you're already dead, you just don't know it yet." Glynda mocked sarcastically, which only elicited another nervous chuckle from Tiella.

"Oh." Tiella's eyes darted around the room once again, noticing Yang literally stuffing her entire fist in her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter while Weiss and Blake hid behind her, heads ducked and mouths covered as their bodies shook from silent laughter. "Are you... gonna let go? N-Not that I _want_ you to or anything..." Tiella asked, raising their hands once again.

"You were just crying when I was about to leave to get a glass of water for you—but you were _so_ drunk that I doubted water would be enough so I gave you some of that instead."

" _I was WHAT!?_ "

"You heard me."

"Yeah," Yang interjected in between laughs and wiping tears from her eyes. "You wouldn't stop sulking and crying until Professor Goodwitch gave you a kiss."

Tiella didn't know whether to be ashamed or proud after what she just learned, but her thoughts were quickly side-tracked the moment Glynda opened her mouth at Yang.

"Ms. Xiao Long."

"Erk." Yang flinched, frozen in place.

"My office after school ends."

Yang opened her mouth and was about to complain when she was struck by Glynda's glare that could easily fell Goliaths.

"Y-Yes, ma'am." She weakly replied while bowing her head, earning intentionally strong back-pats from her two teammates who were still trying not to laugh too hard—clearly enjoying themselves.

"Don't be too hard on Yang," Tiella whispered.

"Hmph."

"Don't be mad, please?" Tiella asked, trying to meet Glynda in the eyes. "It's my fault, okay? Don't take it out on her?" She asked gently, almost pleadingly.

Glynda looked back at her angrily but it was quickly dissipated when saw her apologetic smile. She let out a sigh for the umpteenth time that meeting. "Nevermind the meeting, Ms. Xiao Long. Just remember never to speak of whatever happened in this meeting to _anyone_ outside of the people in this room."

"Thank you, Professor! I'll take it to my grave!"

"Thank Ms. Margory."

"Thanks, Celeste! This is why you're my favorite Beacon person!"

"Thanks, Yang, but my favorite Beacon person is Glynda," Tiella said before daintily sipping more of her coffee.

"That's fair." Yang shrugged.

Tiella grinned at Yang, then back at Glynda, then an idea popped into her mind. "Does that mean I can openly flirt with you even with these guys here?"

Glynda looked like she was just about tired of the whole damn year already when she heard Tiella and was so ready to just sleep into a coma.

"Do whatever you want, I don't even care anymore." Glynda sighed in complete exasperation and resignation. "Just not right now, because we still have a meeting to finish." She looked to the wall clock and found that it was 12:42 pm. "We still have a bit of time, after all."

"Oh, right. We had that, didn't we?"

"Indeed," Ozpin said, finally speaking again. "Now then, I understand that what just happened falls upon my responsibilities as the Headmaster to this academy, but for the sake of this meeting, let's discuss it another time."

"We will, Professor," Glynda said with a glare while adjusting her glasses. " _We definitely will_."

Ozpin swallowed thickly, a little fearful for his near future self, but he decided that it'll be a bridge he'll cross when he gets there. "Very well. Ms. Lillianne? Are you well now?"

Lilly, while still sitting on Bardel's shoulders, gave Ozpin a wink and an 'OK' sign once again, though she spoke without slurring or drawling her words out. "Verily, Headmaster. Your coffee is quite delicious, by the way, I really like it! And Professor Goodwitch mixed it nicely, though I'd prefer something this strong with a little bit of sugar. Well... perhaps, given the circumstances, it's a nice thought—thank you, Professors."

"Do you remember what happened?" Ozpin mused.

"Crystal," she answered easily.

"Good, please explain to Ms. Schnee your answers earlier."

"As you wish." Lilly hopped off Bardel's shoulders and stood at the front of the Headmaster's desk again. "Before we begin, what I'm about to tell you will be a little hard to prove, but nonetheless will be told to you in complete honesty. Whether to believe us or not will be up to you at the end of the day, but I will do my best to provide you with proof."

Weiss looked back at her skeptically, crossing her arms while in thought. "You mean the part where you're not from Remnant and that you're not even Huntsmen or Huntresses?"

Lillianne sipped her coffee while never taking her gaze off of Weiss. "Correct." Somehow, being observed by Lillianne like that made Weiss feel uncomfortable and it made her shift a little in her seat. "Again, we're not from Remnant, which means we're also not Huntsmen or Huntresses."

Weiss eyed her critically, searching for any signs of lying or pranking from the once again regal-looking girl. Unable to read anything from her poker face, Weiss opted to ask again instead. "Okay, I'll bite. Where are you from and what are you three?"

Lillianne smiled a little wider, though her Queenly smile made Weiss feel as if she was standing in the presence of her sister, but the feeling was exponentially greater. The sound of her cup clinking as she placed it atop her saucer was like music to her ears. She missed being able to drink coffee in her mornings for at least a whole week after all.

"We're from a world called _Earth_ ," She began, watching in slight amusement as confusion spread among the students' faces. "The three of us together are called _Avatāra_ ," she proceeded, though taking a slight pause for another sip. "And we're _mercenaries_."

Their confusion only grew as they listened longer. They had questions in their mind as well as things that made a little bit more sense to them after hearing that Tiella was actually a mercenary instead, but they simply couldn't voice any of them just yet. Not until the pressure Lillianne was emitting while _relaxedly sipping coffee_ was lifted.

They quietly glanced towards the other so-called mercenaries in their curiosity. Tiella was standing beside Glynda still, though, their arms were now untangled as Tiella had hers crossed in front of her, a fierce look upon her face as she stared back at them staring at her—and it just made her look even more intimidating. Bardel, on the other hand, was still looking as nonchalant as ever, though still somewhat emitting an aura of domineering despite not even looking at them.

Curious, Ozpin couldn't help but voice his own thoughts. "Can you tell us what _Avatāra_ means?"

"' _One who has descended_ ' is what it means. It comes from the idea that certain people are incarnations or reincarnations of certain Gods in human flesh. I will tell you about the reason for choosing that name in a bit." Lillianne answered easily without looking back at him. "As for proof that we're not from here, we are people who originally do not have Aura. How we came to have Aura is something I don't fully understand yet, but I believe that it's to do with the concept of a human soul."

Everyone's full attention was turned back to Lillianne as she began her explanation.

"But Tiella has Aura," Blake stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah," Tiella chimed. "After I got Glynda to unlock it for me."

"And I understand that Aura is something that's passively on most of the time under normal circumstances, is that correct, Headmaster?"

"Yes."

"Tielle?"

"Whaddaya need?"

"Your gauntlet, please."

Wordlessly and easily, Tiella removed Pepper and tossed it over to Lillianne, who easily caught it without looking while placing her coffee down Ozpin's desk.

"From what I understand, this thing has a claw mechanism?" Lillianne asked Tiella while wearing it over her left hand.

"Yep, and the creator says that it's a glove—not a gauntlet."

"Tielle, it's got metal bracers—I think I know a gauntlet when I see one." Lillianne flexed her fingers a few times while making a few observations on the 'gauntlet'.

"Whatever, it helps me climb walls, so who gives a shit."

"You should, given that it's yours."

"Tomato (toh-may-toe), tomato (toh-mah-toe)."

Lillianne flicked her wrist and out came the claws that were hidden. "Weren't you the one that tried correcting me over what it was called?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Silently and quickly, Lillianne slashed her right forearm without hesitation, surprising the people of the room while spilling her own blood on the floor.

"Sorry about the floor, Headmaster," she said while flicking her left arm to retract the claws back.

"I'll be sure to have someone clean it up, but do give us a heads-up the next time you do something similar."

"Thank you," Lillianne bowed at Ozpin before looking back at Weiss. "Now, I know that you might think that I could've just turned my Aura off earlier. So if you'd like, you can spend the next few days observing me to see whether I'd generate an Aura and heal this wound immediately with it."

"You don't even have Aura but I think you already know more about it than I do," Tiella commented.

"Of course! When I was in Vacuo, I sneaked into Shade Academy's library when I had the chance. Headmaster Torako sure got angry." Lillianne beamed at her proudly, earning wry smiles and incredulous looks before looking back to Weiss once again while lightly wiping the blood off her forearm until it dried by itself. Weiss looked like she was about to voice another question, but she immediately understood what it would be about after a quick ' _glance_ ', so she spoke even before Weiss could open her mouth. "I'll tell you about Vacuo later. As for the explanation on Bardel's strength, it is what we call an _Essentia_."

"Finally decided on a name for it?"

"Yeah," Lillianne smiled rather morosely. "At least, for now, it's what it'll be called until a better understanding of it is found."

"It's a shit name," Tiella replied curtly while looking out the window with a scowl.

"I knew you wouldn't like it," Lillianne said as she gave Tiella an apologetic smile. "Returning to what an Essentia is, it is the supernatural manifestation of our strongest desire." She pointed to her eyes. "In my case, it is because I've always wanted to be able to see since I was a child. I was fully blind until the time I got my Essentia." She saw the curious looks on their faces and immediately began explaining how her Essentia worked. "My Essentia, _God Eyes_ , not only gives me vision but also gives me _extreme dynamic visual acuity_."

"Dynamic visual acuity? You mean you can see the fine details of things moving at high speeds?" Weiss asked to clarify.

"Correct, though in my case, it isn't just high speeds." Lillianne smiled rather proudly. "When I 'look' with my Essentia, everything slows down in my eyes, giving me enough time to observe every minute detail of everything caught in my vision. If I wanted, I could spend what would feel like the next 5 minutes looking at a lightning strike before it hits the ground whereas to a normal person, the only thing people see would be the bright cracks in the atmosphere and the bright light, followed by the loud sound."

Lillianne stood from leaning on Ozpin's desk to walk up to a stunned Weiss, eyes glowing a dim purple all the while. "And because I have that much ' _time_ ' in my eyes and mind, I can use it to make deductions and predictions after gathering information on everything I see. For example... and my apologies but this might be extremely unpleasant to all of you." She ' _looked_ ' to Weiss' right, where Yang was sitting and smiled a little wider. "Yang Xiao Long, 17, still a little tired from this morning's training, you showered 5 hours and 28 minutes ago."

Suddenly being put on the spotlight while Lillianne guessed one right thing after the other, Yang looked back at her with eyes wide in curiosity and confusion. The first three things were basic and public information so she wasn't particularly impressed, but then she heard about her shower and it made her think a little bit whether it was true or not.

"You're thinking about whether I was right about the shower. You're just about to ask Blake if I'm right." Lillianne gave Blake a quick glance before returning her gaze to Yang. "I'm right, as approved by Blake. You're now wondering how I'm reading your mind, I'm not. I'm simply reading your face."

"Wha—"

"Blake Belladonna, 17," Lilly said before briefly glancing at her bow which made Blake a little nervous. "You showered 7 minutes before Yang. You're convincing yourself that I was somehow stalking you this morning, I wasn't." She then looked back to Weiss. "Weiss Schnee, 16, you showered 10 minutes before Blake. No, I don't have a camera in your dorm room or in the gym's shower rooms. I did just arrive at Beacon last night." She smiled wryly. "Your scar is from a battle with a giant hollow knight that you had to defeat to convince your father to let you enroll at Beacon as a huntress. Oh, I'm sorry! Was that supposed to be a secret?"

Lillianne backed off with an apologetic smile, convinced that she'd creeped the students out enough already and leaned back on Ozpin's desk while fetching her coffee. "I found more, of course, and I could easily recount them to you, but I believe that it would be incredibly tasteless even for Tielle."

"Excuse me, but why the fuck am I some sort of standard?"

"To spite you."

"Fuck you too, Lilly."

As Lillianne and Tiella engaged in light banter, Yang, Blake, and Weiss were stuck in disbelief. They wanted to rationalize what they just experience or at the very least, brush it off, but they just couldn't. She said that she found more and that she could easily recount them, but that it would be incredibly tasteless.

"How...?" Was all Weiss could ask.

"Like I said, deductions and predictions after gathering information when I _look_ at you."

Stunned once more, Weiss could no longer keep herself calm in her seat. "But that's impossible! No one can just read someone like their open books like that! Especially not someone they just met!"

"I've read entire libraries filled exclusively of research papers and books on Psychology to make sure I minimize the mistakes I make when making these guesses." Lillianne shrugged. As if what she said was nothing to brag about.

Weiss wanted to question her longer, but Yang stepped in after understanding that Weiss wouldn't calm down any time soon. "Okay, what about Bardy?"

"It's called _Iron Will_ and he converts his feelings of motivation into physical strength."

"What?"

"He gets stronger the more he gets pumped up." Lillianne clarified. "Bardy? Care to explain it yourself or is it okay if I do it?"

"You're gonna butt in even if I try anyway."

"You just need to use words in context when explaining things." Lillianne chuckled. "Without giving away anything too personal, Bardy has an obsession with winning and proving something. Whether it's to a person or just to himself would be something you'll have to ask him."

"And Tiella?" Blake asked, still wary of the girl.

Lillianne smiled morosely and hesitated a little, giving Tiella a look. Tiella met the look with blank eyes before nodding with pursed lips. Luckily for her, Glynda was still beside her, so her head was pulled to Glynda's shoulder again for her to rest on.

"It's called _Hollowing,_ " Lillianne said, voice a little softer than how she'd been speaking all this time. "And it gives her the ability to weaken the people around her the more she feels contemptuous."

"Contemptuous?" Pyrrha voiced, surprising herself by her suddenly clear volume when she'd simply been repeating words to herself in whispers since the meeting began. "I-I'm sorry for interrupting!"

Lillianne beamed at her in assurance. "It's okay, Pyrrha. This is a strange topic for all of you, so you may question me any time. I will answer you to the best of my abilities."

Jaune wondered aloud, "You mean to say that, if she wanted, she could've won every spar she'd ever had here easily? I mean, that's her, uh... Esse... uh..."

"Essentia."

"Right, Essentia. So... she could've just weakened her opponents and finish them off easy, right?"

"In theory."

"In theory?" Pyrrha wondered as well.

Lillianne gave Tiella another brief glance and noted a highly displeased look on her face, though with how her hand was being held in Glynda's, she noted that her discomfort was merely surface-level. "Tielle, would you like to explain?"

"No."

"There you have it." Lillianne smiled apologetically at the Beacon students. "I'm sorry, but I can't explain any more without getting into more personal reasons."

"What do you mean by weakening people, then? How does that work?" Weiss asked with a huff.

"She lets out a, hmm..." Lillianne thought for a moment with a chin on her hand as she looked up, then to the side. "She lets out this aura that pulses, I believe, over a wide range that slowly drains the strength and stamina of living beings. She basically forces ' _heavy fatigue_ ' onto people and its intensity works in direct proportion to how contemptuous she feels when using it. But let's say she's feeling particularly merciful so she sets it at the weakest setting. Expose yourself to her Essentia's effect for 5 minutes and you'll drop to your knees as if you just climbed up a steep mountain without taking breaks."

"How wide?" Blake asked incredulously, still disbelieving that such a powerful ability wasn't being used at all. She could understand restraint in using your abilities like Pyrrha does with her Polarity, but completely avoiding it? At least, that's what it looked like to Blake when Tiella refused to talk about it.

"600-meter radius with her at the center—that's if she blasts it at max, at least." Lillianne looked to the clock and found that she only had a little under 7 minutes left until 1 o'clock. "I think that should be enough about Essentia for now. Moving onto the name Avatāra, it's because—"

"Lilly has shit tastes." Tiella interrupted with a small scowl.

"Rude." Lillianne pouted.

"I'm not wrong."

"Yes, you are!" Lillianne pouted some more. "Whatever, Tielle. I don't have much time left before the meeting ends, so we'll talk about this later."

"Fine."

"Moving on," Lilly cleared her throat. "It signifies that we," Lilly gestured with her arms spread wide.

"Are gods descended?" Weiss asked, voicing her skepticism once more.

"Close, but not quite." Lillianne smiled. "It signifies that we have the power of gods. It is by no means bragging, but surely you all understand the difference between our strengths given what you've seen and heard."

And there it was again, the heavy, stifling pressure that Ozpin felt. Only, this time, it was also being felt by everyone else in the room sans the other two mercenaries. It even looked like they were doing the same as well just not to the same level of intensity.

"But, of course, I understand that these are all just words," Lillianne said, breaking the suffocation that all the others were experiencing. "So, if you'd like, I can have Tielle fight all of you by herself."

"Fight them yourself, Lilly."

"But you're a better fighter than me and I need to impress them."

"So fight them yourself."

"Tieeeeelle. You just have to stop holding back."

"Wait, wait, wait," Yang interrupted. "You mean, she's gonna use her _whatchamacallit_ on us?"

"She doesn't like using it, so no," Lilly said.

"Yeah, I don't." Tielle pursed her lips in annoyance. "And I won't. That's a last resort skill—and activating it invites Grimm to me."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, gears turning in her head.

"Remember the Giant Nevermore 2 weeks ago?"

" _That was you?_ "

"Not proud of it," Tielle said dismissively.

"That's decided then." Lillianne clapped her hands loudly. "Tielle vs. all seven of you. Or eight if you wish to invite Ruby. You can just talk amongst yourselves when you want it to happen."

"Wai—" Tiella spoke up.

"Moving on," But Lillianne ignored her. "We're also not Huntsmen and Huntresses. We're Mercenaries. We take up any job for the right price. Because back in our world, Grimm doesn't exist."

"They _what?_ " Yang asked incredulously. "That sounds awesome then!"

"No, no it's not." Lillianne smiled wryly. "Don't take it the wrong way—our world is beautiful in its own way but… humans as a species, can't live without bothering others. It's just life. And because there aren't Grimm, the population in our world is massive. We have 7 billion people in the world last time we were there."

" _7 billion?_ " Yang said with eyes wide, unable to fathom the number.

"And we have around 800 million people in Remnant, don't we?" Blake said while doing the math in her head. "That's... wow."

"I can't even imagine that big a number." Nora chimed disbelievingly.

"And with 800 million people, you already have constant problems with territory as well as other resources, don't you?"

No one answered as they all felt that it was more or less a rhetorical question, though they did wonder what Lillianne was trying to get to.

"Now, imagine 7 billion people doing just that." Lillianne continued. "Fighting over _territory_ , fighting over _resources_ , fighting over _rights_ , fighting over _everything_. Constantly fighting, _over and over and over again_ throughout thousands of years of human history."

Lillianne paused and let her words sink in. She observed the changing expressions on some of the students that were beginning to understand her point.

"Now, you tell me," Lillianne said with a hint of deep sadness. "What do we kill?"

"That's..." Yang voiced, extremely affronted by the idea that she didn't even want to finish the thought.

Blake, on the other hand, was looking at Lillianne rather grimly. "Each other."

"Unfortunately." Lillianne smiled sorrowfully. "' _The world is not beautiful. Therefore, it is._ '"

" _Kino's Journey: The Beautiful World,_ " Tiella added, eyes cast out the window towards the school grounds. "You love that book."

"It's one of my favorites, yes."

There was an awkward silence that lasted longer than Lillianne would've liked, but she nonetheless kept to herself until the others have absorbed everything that's been said so far. She looked to the clock again and noted that it was already a minute past 1 pm, so she stood upright and faced the Headmaster.

"Headmaster."

"Yes?"

"This meeting will, unfortunately, have to be adjourned with a lot of unanswered questions. We've only scratched the surface, after all."

"That's true." Ozpin nodded. "I might have to ask you to come in at a later date."

"Hopefully the drinking would come as soon as we're actually done." Lillianne teased. "Or at least, use something a lot less… well."

As if unsure of whether to be proud or ashamed, Ozpin simply pursed his lips and nodded his head while momentarily hiding his face from view as he looked down on his desk. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"I'll make sure that you do." Glynda chimed in.

"Thank you, Glynda, what will I ever do without you."

"Sink this academy down the lake, probably," Tiella commented while nonchalantly looking at her fingers. "I'mma need that _gauntlet_ back, Lilly."

Lillianne quickly unfastened the gauntlet out of her hand and tossed it back to Tiella. "Thanks."

"Sure, sure," Tiella said, easily catching the gauntlet with her left hand by inserting it into the in-coming gauntlet. She fastened the gauntlet securely and gave it a few practice flicks to extend and retract the claws.

"I just have one thing left to discuss with you, Headmaster, but at this point, the students may leave if they wish," Lillianne said while giving the Beacon students a look.

"I think we'll stay until the end." Weiss easily answered with arms crossed as representative to everyone.

"Very well." Lillianne smiled, amused at the stance Weiss was taking.

It wasn't as if Weiss was being defiant, but it was certainly interesting to Lillianne that someone who seemed like a teacher's pet would act and answer the way she did. Perhaps it's because she feels strongly for her newfound friendship with Tiella—she'll need to spend time with Weiss and the others to know for sure.

Or she could steal another _glance_ at them like before.

Lillianne entertained the thought for a second before she decided against it. Mentally shaking her head, she figured that further use of her _eyes_ like that would render her blind for the rest of the day. "I'll make this quick, Headmaster," she said, earning a silent nod from Ozpin. She nodded as well, happy that Ozpin was very easy to talk to. "I have three conditions I must ask you to follow if you wish to make this alliance truly work."

"I'm all ears."

"Good," Lillianne beamed. "Because if not— _I will do what we must through excessive force if I have to._ "

And once again, the entire room's atmosphere felt as if it was replaced by glue with how hard it became for everyone to stay calm and breathe from Lillianne's not-so-subtle threat.

"Keep in mind, we have no obligation to the people of this world."

"Throwing around threats already?" Ozpin mused as lightly as he could.

"Not a threat," Lillianne said, though unlike every other statement before, she wasn't smiling.

She was simply staring right back into Ozpin's eyes, her expression blank and stoic. And despite the lack of an actual expression on her face, it ironically delivered enough of her conviction to everyone in the room.

 _She was serious._

Lillianne placed her hands flat on the desk to level herself with Ozpin's gaze. " _It's an oath._ "

The people in the room didn't think it possible, but in that exact moment, they understood that Lillianne doing the impossible was something they would likely see become commonplace. Case in point, the pressure she was choking everyone with rose even higher to the point that it became physically unbearable for everyone—knees trembled before buckling, forcing all that stood to kneel. Even Ozpin was forced to bow his head low from his seat.

Except for those she saw as her true equals, of course.

Their footsteps were heard loud and clear, and all that those who kneeled saw were the boots that stood beside the black-haired purple-eyed girl.

"Lilly." They all heard Tiella talk. "Thanks, but that's enough. They get it."

They couldn't see anything, but they did hear Lillianne letting out a frustrated sigh. "I just want them to take me seriously. If I listened to myself talking to them earlier, I wouldn't want to believe myself too."

"They will, but right now, we're _this_ close to actually making enemies out of them."

"I don't really care, but if this is how you want to get us home, then so be it. I'll smash everything to bits if they get in our way."

"Thanks, dumbass, but that's literally the _opposite_ of what I'm asking of Lilly. The kids here are good people—they don't need any of our shit."

"Whatever."

They all heard Lillianne let out another sigh, and at the same time, the pressure was finally released—and it was like rising back to the surface of the ocean after diving for far longer than their lungs would've liked to hold out for.

Lillianne carried on as if nothing happened, wearing that regal smile she liked wearing while negotiating. "Now, Headmaster, for my conditions."

Ozpin scrutinized the mercenary trio standing before him with furrowed brows. Sweat formed and dropped from his forehead as he tried to stabilize his breathing.

"One, you will let us operate _however_ we want," Lillianne said while holding one finger up, raising another finger for each condition added."Two, you will let us operate _whenever_ we want. And three, you will let us operate _wherever_ we want." Lillianne dropped her hand and clasped her hands together. "You will do your _utmost_ to support us in our endeavor and give us full access to everything we need and ask for, and in exchange, we will relay every bit of information we currently have and will find out to you—you need only ask." Lillianne paused for a moment as she studied Ozpin's expression before continuing. "It goes without saying that we will be at the frontlines of everything. Before you send out your own scouts and soldiers, you will send us out first. _We will risk life and limb to save a world that isn't ours._ "

Lillianne paused, letting her conditions sink in before carrying on.

"We need no monetary payment, just provide us with what we ask and what we need. Supporting us will be your _top priority_ —and once our job is finished, you will send us home." Lillianne leaned her head closer to Ozpin's and squinted her eyes ever so slightly. "Are these terms acceptable?"

Ozpin stood from his seat and walked to the window behind him. He glanced down at his school for a moment before returning his gaze towards Lillianne. "Your terms are a little vague but frankly, that was all that I was planning to offer to you among other things. I will provide you with everything and in exchange, you will do all the heavy lifting while keeping my people, especially my students, safe—or at least, as safe as can be."

"Good." Lillianne smiled in satisfaction. "And what of your allies? I hope they find our terms acceptable."

"That would be the first part of my job." Ozpin smiled wryly, already having an idea of the kind of headache he would have should he speak to Ironwood about it. "I'll make sure that they will become your allies as well, but please, do expect them to test you."

"Glad to hear it," Lillianne said, extending a hand to seal the deal.

Ozpin looked at the hand for a short moment before he looked back at the girl confidently smiling back at him. And without a moment's hesitation, he easily accepted the offered hand. "I look forward to working with you."

They were all silent for a bit before Tiella broke the moment. "2 weeks in a new job and I'm already promoted from Academy Gofer to Alliance Leader." She whistled, quite impressed with herself.

Ignoring Tiella, Lillianne let go of the handshake and continued. "Let's talk more in greater detail when your allies have all gathered. I wouldn't want to keep repeating myself, after all."

"Very well." Ozpin nodded. "For now, you may spend your time here in leisure until then. You have free access to everything within this academy and any expenses outside what the school can provide I'm sure Tiella can cover."

"What?" Tiella let out incredulously.

"Glad to hear it!" Lilly beamed.

* * *

After the meeting, each team returned to their respective dorms. Team RWBY chose to spend the rest of their afternoon in theirs to discuss everything they'd learned and heard so far while waiting for Tiella and Bardel's match.

Ruby was let go on the condition that she was not to take a step outside of their room until tomorrow for her to rest as much as she could.

"There's just so much to take in and talk about..." Yang mused with a sigh.

She was sitting beside Blake on Blake's bunk while Weiss and Ruby sat beside each other on Weiss'.

"So Celeste really isn't from here?"

"That's what Lilly said at least," Blake replied, remembering the awful stifling pressure she felt from the girl. "It's a little hard to believe that other worlds exist."

"Technically speaking," Weiss chimed, eyes cast on the carpet in the middle of their dorm as she idly fidgeted with her fingers. "According to Quantum Physics, an infinite number of parallel universes, or multiverses, exists. There exists a version of Remnant where I may have never chosen to oppose my father and simply focused on the family business, Ruby may not have chosen to skip 2 years, Yang may not have wanted to become a Huntress, or you may have never left the White Fang."

Her teammates listened intently to her as she continued explaining, giving Blake a quick glance before returning her eyes to the floor.

"These other realities exist because, at some point in the past, we made a different decision, or at the very least, some outside factor affected us that made us choose differently. And it could be something as little and trivial as leaving that Dust shop you were at for about a second before you could even see Torchwick arrive," She said, giving Ruby a side glance. "And the possibility of an entire parallel world is not unlikely when you take this into account. There simply need for some things to go a little differently for it to result in a vastly different future."

Weiss took in the contemplating and confused looks on her teammates' faces as she finished.

"And you truly believe that?" Blake asked.

"The topic of multiverses is something I only know of on a surface level. I simply found it interesting one day and decided to read on it a little before I moved on. It was just useless trivia to me at the time and thought it bordering on science fiction." Weiss explained. "However, seeing people that practically presented themselves to us as otherworlders reminded me of this and it made me think of whether parallel worlds do exist."

Weiss paused again, thinking back on the meeting before the continued her musings. "They showed us no solid proof, and even if they did, how are we supposed to know if it's the real deal in the first place? Lilly slashing her forearm like that could have just easily meant that she never had her Aura unlocked at all—it doesn't bring anything to support her notion that she's an otherworlder."

Yang plopped onto Blake's bed with her arms spread out, absentmindedly looking up on the bottom side of her bunk bed.

"But do you think they're lying?" Ruby asked.

Weiss looked back at Ruby with a blank stare, finding herself lost in pools of silver as she contemplated her question to her.

"I don't."

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I took my sweet time with this one, didn't I? Well, what's new, right?_

 _Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I probably had a lot to say about it considering how long this is, but because I took my merry time writing it, I forgot about them._

 _Hehe!_

 _Anyways! Do leave your thoughts in the reviews, learning about what you think always motivates me to write more. Thanks again!_


	26. Chapter 26

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Okay. Now, I'm gonna be real._

 _I just got shivers when one of you told me you got shivers from reading chapter 25._

 _That's, like, the ultimate compliment! I'm so proud that I consider it my greatest achievement in writing to date._

 _Like, for reals. I'mma drop the prim and proper formal bullshit act and speak the way I normally would._

 _It's real fucking amazing and surreal that I managed to pull that off._

 _Seriously, thanks. That made my day, and it probably made my year, too._

 _And, again, I'm seriously grateful to everyone that's stuck with me since chapter one. It's been a ride, and if you got worried that this might be coming to a close very soon with how I worded it, don't. I got the ending all planned out and we're not even at the halfway point just yet._

 _So here's to more shenanigans!_

 _P.S. Ready your combat playlist._

* * *

The sound of an eagle was heard in the distance, bringing a smile along with a memory of a certain song to a certain girl. The girl played the sound of a guitar and keyboard slowly rising in volume in her mind for about 30 seconds before she took a deep breath and released it with a clear and powerful voice—her voice echoing and reverberating throughout the academy.

" _Ooohh, o_ _oohh, ooooohh_ _~!_ "

Lilly sat on the fence of one of the four towers Beacon Academy had, excluding the Grand Clocktower. The tower was quite tall, standing at least over 10 stories high and it was set at the corner of Beacon Academy where it was situated as a sort of watchtower by the cliff overlooking the lake and Vale.

" _Ooohh, o_ _oohh, ooooohh_ _~!_ "

It was three in the afternoon, the sun was brightly shining down on her, but with how high she was, the feeling of the strong wind blowing on her hair and skin was more than enough to keep herself cooled.

" _Ooohh, o_ _oohh, ooooohh_ _~!_ "

She was relaxedly and idly swinging her legs back and forth as she sang at the top of her lungs to the tune of Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds To Mars.

" _Ooohh, o_ _oohh, ooooohh_ _~!_ "

Her eyes were hidden behind a black blindfold that had its long tails energetically swaying along with her long black hair as they were touched by the strong winds. Feeling quite fickle and excited—she chose to skip the first verse and went straight for the chorus because she felt that the winds were simply too enjoyably strong for her to _not_ give the chorus her best.

" _We were the Kings and Queens of promise~!_ "

Her body swayed back and forth, and side to side as she imagined the instrumentals of the song she was singing to everyone and no one.

" _We were the victims of ourselves~!_ "

Her feet bounced and swung to the beat of the drums while her body swayed left and right to every drop that came—reminded of her days of childhood that she'd spent closely and mostly with her mother and father. Sheltered as she was, she didn't feel particularly stifled. Her every whim was granted as long as it was within reason and her parents personally tended to her whenever they weren't busy with work despite having at least a dozen servants around the mansion to do just that job—and even better at that.

She chuckled in her mind as she echoed the words mentally, nostalgic for the past when she'd often force her mother and father to get her all kinds of musical instruments. She started practicing the piano and violin when she was 4, then she moved on to the flute, trumpet, and oboe at 5, the cello at 6, the guitar and bass at 7, the drums at 8, and so on—all the while practicing her vocals. By the time she turned 15, she was already an expert on a great number of instruments that, if she could, she would play an entire orchestra's worth Live by herself.

How exactly that line reminded her of her joyful days when it was meant as a reminder of grandiose dreams that ended in failure and disappointment was a little strange to her, but she simply chalked it up to herself wondering whether she had at least one thing to regret dreaming of in the past.

A second of thought later, and it was a no-brainer—she had none.

" _Maybe the children of a lesser God~!_ "

Her smile spread wider across her face as soon as she finished singing that particular line, fancying the idea that the reason they were the way they are currently was because of just that—children of lesser Gods.

" _Between Heaven and Hell~!_ "

She was by no means religious, but she did like to believe that God or Gods were real. She had no particular reason to believe so, though—she simply liked the idea that such beings were true. If pushed for an answer, her response was always because she thought that it was romantic.

" _Heaven and Hell~!_ "

She stood on the fence as she spread her arms wide open with her palms facing the sky, her hooded coat that was simply clipped around her neck billowed strongly as it was carried by the wind. She tilted her head down, facing the great blue lake further down the cliff.

" _The age of man is over~..._ "

She balanced herself on the fence as her body tilted and swayed back and forth due to the powerful winds. A minor slip could mean life and death to her, and yet she was more worried over whether she could sing the rest of the song perfectly.

" _A darkness comes at dawn~..._ "

She felt emotion welling within her as she slowly lowered her voice further. She took a deep breath and raised her voice a little higher along with a tilt of her head to where she was now facing the great horizon that split the sky and land.

" _These lessons that we learned here~..._ "

The excitement in her heart was barely containable with how her hands trembled as they slowly and dramatically reached for her heart—her voice rising even higher as she sang.

" _Have only just begun~!_ "

Along with the rise of her voice, she spread her arms wide open just like before. Was it a gesture to welcome the planet or was it a dare for anyone to stop her? Even she didn't know, she simply felt excited as her emotions rose with the tone, pitch, and volume of her voice just as the song ebbed and flowed out of her mouth.

" _We were the Kings and Queens of promise~!_

 _We were the victims of ourselves~!_

 _Maybe the children of a lesser God~!_

 _Between Heaven and Hell~!_ "

She quickly took a deep breath before continuing the song, oblivious to the fact that a small crowd had already gathered at the foot of the tower ever since she started singing the chorus—enticed and enthralled by the mysterious and oddly compelling voice that had been spreading across campus. It wasn't as if her voice was extraordinarily loud, it was simply because she stood on a far higher footing than the rest that her voice reached farther and wider than it normally would.

" _We are the Kings~!_

 _We are the Queens~!_

 _We are the Kiiings~!_

 _We are the..._ "

And she took in as much breath as fast as she could before she sang as loud as she could, her voice echoing louder and farther, attracting even those who were within classrooms and dorm rooms—busy with their studies and whatnot.

" _ **QUEEEEENS~!**_ "

Just as she strained her voice singing at the top of her lungs, she was surprised when she heard a familiar voice backing her up just as how the song was supposed to go.

" _Ooohh, o_ _oohh, ooooohh_ _~!_ "

She held the yell as long as she could, lasting at least a dozen seconds before it faded away—carried away by the wind into obscurity and drowned by loud cheers and shouts for encores and autographs. Little did they know, her song wasn't quite finished yet. Pleasantly surprised as they were, they dropped whatever they'd been doing or saying as they followed along with the voice that backed her up as best as they could.

" _Ooohh, o_ _oohh, ooooohh_ _~!_ "

It was Lilly's turn to be pleasantly surprised when she heard her small audience singing along with her, proud that, despite singing a song completely unknown to this world's inhabitants, she was able to get them to sing along with her on her first time—with a little bit of help from her not-so-mysterious friend, of course.

" _Ooohh, o_ _oohh, ooooohh_ _~!_ "

So, she smiled wide—wide enough that it was almost painful for her to keep it for long, but still, she did. Because she was simply too happy.

" _Ooohh, o_ _oohh, ooooohh_ _~!_ "

It was as if she just had her own live concert, just as she'd always wanted since her pre-teens. She let the voices of her audience wash over her as she reveled in the moment. After a second, she let herself fall off the other side of the fence—the side where she would die, because unlike the people of this world, she didn't have Aura. At least, not yet.

And so she fell, and the crowds cheered some more, aside for one person, that is. That person rushed out of the crowd and stood right under the falling girl as fast as she could with her arms opened wide, prepared to catch her just in time before she hit the ground.

"Oof!" The person gruntled a little from the force of the fall.

"My hero." Lilly beamed lovingly, wrapping her arms around her savior's neck.

"You were so damn loud I could hear you from the halls."

"And I heard you, my little backup vocals," she said, getting down from her savior's protective hold. "It's a shame you don't sing as much, you would be a great singer!"

"Yeah, nah."

"So, what brings you here?"

"Your singing."

Lilly didn't say anything, she only beamed at the words. The crowd that gathered had stopped cheering and some have already left, though, those that stayed, seemed as though they were waiting for more.

"Are you free right now?"

"Nope, I was on my way to combat class when I heard you."

"Oh, I'm sorry for holding you up."

"Don't mind it, it was my choice to be late when I decided to come here." Her savior took her hand and guided her out of the crowds and back inside Beacon's main building.

"Well, you shouldn't!" She said, easily letting herself be guided away. She could navigate on her own with relative ease as she's got a very good pair of sensitive ears, but she didn't mind. A tiny bit of skinship with her best friend is always welcome.

"Yeah, yeah."

After a short while of walking in pleasant silence with only the ambient sound of students going to and fro being heard around her, her best friend spoke up again.

"By the way," she heard her say. "I think Pyrrha said she was looking for you."

"She is? I wonder why."

"Well you're gonna have to ask her."

While walking through the halls, she eventually heard the sound of metal striking and gunshots before they made a turn into what she believed was a grand room or some such.

"Hey, Glynda, sorry I'm late. This girl was singing on one of the towers and fucking jumped off of it right after while blindfolded."

"Hey! Don't blame me because you heard me singing! You said it was your decision to come to me!" Lilly said indignantly with a cross of her arms and a harrumph. "And I wouldn't have jumped off if I didn't hear you, you know? I knew you'd catch me." She smiled.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Did you walk here looking like that?" she heard Glynda ask.

"Yeah? She needs to rest her eyes."

"While holding hands?"

"Well, yeah, she's blind right now." She heard, but then their voices lulled to soft whispers only those within their vicinity could hear. "Don't tell me... are you jealous?"

"Don't be preposterous. Think back—you walked the halls while holding a blindfolded girl's hand through here. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you'd be up to something immoral."

"Or I could just be planning to surprise her. Geez, Glynda, leave the dirty thoughts for when it's time for bed—I can help you with those, too, just say the word."

There was a slight pause—Glynda was likely embarrassed and thinking of what to reply, Lilly guessed in her mind.

"Keep quiet, stop being immoral, and take a seat. You can have Ms. Lillianne sit beside you, I need to start the next match."

"Sure thing, Glynda." Lilly felt a hand taking mine before she was gently pulled away. "Let's go."

"Thanks, Tielle."

"I know you can navigate just fine, but I also know that it's gonna take you a little bit of time before you get familiar with this place when you're blind like that."

"You know me so well."

Lilly felt hands on her shoulders lightly pushing her down, an indication for her to take her seat where she stood. And just as she trusted in Tiella, there truly was a seat vacant for her to take.

"I can hear Nora from a few feet away. Are they talking about us?"

"How would I know? I don't have ears as sensitive as yours, Lilly."

"Hahaha! Sorry, I thought it was audible enough for you with how quiet the room suddenly is." Not that it was dead silent, the room was simply preoccupied with murmuring instead of openly chattering and bantering.

"They're staring at you—the students, I mean."

"Well, let them. I'm sure they don't often see a blindfolded girl here."

"Someone's coming."

"Is it Yang?"

"Yeah."

And just as she'd correctly guessed, Yang called out to her as soon as she was close enough.

"Heya, Celeste."

"S'up."

"Hey there, Lilly."

"Hello, Yang."

"I thought you guys had the afternoon off?" Tiella asked.

"Yeah, but we got bored after thinking over the stuff in the meeting, so we just went to Combat Class 'cause that's usually fun."

"True."

"Why are you blindfolded?"

"Because my eyes hurt and I need to give them time to rest, or else I pass out until tomorrow. I don't wanna miss Tiella and Bardy's match after all!"

"Your eyes hurt? But why?"

"It's just a side effect of God Eyes. Extensive use hurts my eyes, going over the limit by a little bit would start giving me headaches, and going way past the limit would force me to shut down."

"Oh, so it's got weird drawbacks like that too?"

She felt a muffled sound coming from her left. She assumed that it was Yang taking a seat to her left while Tiella sat next to her right.

"Yep! It's a bit of a bummer at first, but I got used to it immediately because I was originally blind in the first place. It's just like going back to the way I was temporarily."

They were silent for a moment, so she focused on the sound of Glynda calling students out for the 2nd random selections matchup. After she heard Glynda giving the students time to prepare, she heard Yang voice another question, though she sounded quite hesitant.

"Yeah... so... don't take this the wrong way, but..."

"Yes?"

"I'm, well, sorta just wondering..."

"Go on."

Lilly heard a frustrated sigh from Yang. "Screw it, I'm just gonna come out with it. Why are you here if you won't be able to see the matches?"

Lilly took a moment to giggle to herself after hearing Yang fluster her words out. She heard Tiella chuckling from her right as well. She heard Yang groaning a little before the beginnings of an apology came out, so she interrupted her before she could even finish her first word.

"It's okay, Yang. I'm not offended."

"Uh... okay?"

"And it's a very valid question."

"Mm."

"I'm here because Tiella brought me here."

"Why?" She heard Yang ask, likely more for Tiella than her.

And just as she expected, it was Tiella who replied. "Just because."

Lilly smiled giddily before wrapping her arms around Tiella's. "And I don't mind. I'm beside my best friend after so long and it's far better than being alone."

"Aren't I only your best friend because you don't have a lot of friends?"

"That still counts because I like you the best!"

"What about Bardy?"

"Bardy's more like a little brother."

"A highly volatile and explosive little brother, you mean?"

"Aren't all little brothers like that?"

"How should I know? And aren't you the youngest between us?"

"True, I'm also just an only child. How about you, Yang?"

"About what?"

"Do you also think of Bardy as a little brother?"

"What."

Lilly suddenly felt a light smack on her head. "Stop fucking around, Lilly."

"Oh, so you get to mess with them but I don't." She pouted cutely.

"Of course, they're my students. I've got special privilege to mess with them."

"Whatever!" She stuck her tongue out at Tiella before turning her face back to Yang. "Jokes aside, do you have a little brother, Yang?"

Lilly heard Yang chuckle for a bit before answering. "No, but I have Ruby as a little sister and she's also a puppy sometimes."

"A puppy?"

"Yeah! She gets all energetic and dorky about the things she loves. Like weapons and sweets."

"Reminds me of a certain someone." She heard Tiella comment from the side.

"Who is it?" Yang asked.

"This girl."

She didn't see or feel anything but she was 100% positive that Tiella was pointing at her. So she smiled wide and proud, sticking her chest out and tilting her head up with pride.

"Well, this little puppy's cute as heck, too!"

"I dunno, Ruby's pretty cute herself." Yang teased.

"Ruby's cute, sure," Tiella said, "but is she nerd-about-everything-with-bouncy-big-tits-and-ass-cute? No, I don't think so."

"Well, Ruby isn't gonna lose if it's just cuteness!"

"I think even my Lilly here can top Ruby in her best day!"

"Oh _yeah?_ "

" _Oh yeah_ , 'oh _yeah_ '."

She felt two soft, plump, and warm things squishing the sides of her head and it made her flick their bellies hard enough for them to back off.

"Ow, damn, Lilly, I wasn't prepared for that."

"Ow!"

"You were squishing me between your boobs!" Lilly said indignantly with crossed arms.

The girls were about to apologize but then they heard Glynda's voice catching their attention once again. "And that's the match. The winner is—"

She went back to focusing on Yang and Tiella beside her because she wasn't particularly interested in what she was hearing from the class. After a few moments, she heard Glynda talking about starting the volunteer matchups. And as soon as she heard it, she immediately raised her hand and called out.

"Excuse me!"

There was a slight pause in the room as the background noise went down before she heard Glynda acknowledging her.

"How may I help you, Ms. Lillianne?"

She smiled and clasped her hands together. "Can I have the first match against Tielle?"

* * *

Yang looked incredulously between Tiella, Lilly, and Glynda while, admittedly, felt a little too excited.

Ever since the night before, she'd always wondered how good a fighter Lilly was. She was just a few centimeters taller than her, which would mean that she was way smaller than Tiella. Guessing by comparison to her own height, which is 173 cm, Tiella was at least 195 cm, give or take. And with how Lilly was just a tad taller than herself, she'd guess that she's around 176 cm or so. Though, despite the height difference, Lilly looked like she had a fair bit more muscle than Tiella did.

And if she looked a little closer, Lilly was a lot sexier than Tiella was with how she looked like she was just the right ratio of muscle and body fat. She had the right amount of body fat and muscle mass in all the right places—giving her this perfectly chiseled sculpture look you'd see in fashion magazines with Warrior Goddess themes or museums about old goddesses in myths and legends.

She exuded strength, beauty, and charisma just by standing from her seat. Add her personality and face and you have an incredibly charming beauty with an endearing personality.

Honestly, it was hard for Yang to think of a reason to not like her in the short time they'd interacted. Even when she included the part when she pretty much threatened Ozpin and somehow made all of their knees buckle through some weird pressure whenever she emphasized her words and actions. She still can't wrap her head around how Lilly was able to do all that without making it sound like a Semblance in her head but because Lilly explicitly told them that they don't have Aura but instead Essentia, she had to scrap the idea if she wanted to believe her.

 _"Lilly's gonna spar with Celeste! Holy crap, someone on Tiella's level! We might finally see what she's like if she tries a little harder!"_

"Are you gonna do it blindfolded like that?" Yang asked a little too eagerly.

Lilly giggled and nodded her head. "Yes, I will." She flexed her right bicep and confidently placed her left hand over it as she grinned. "I may not look like it, but I can still fight even without my eyes!"

"Celeste, does she do that often?" Yang asked worriedly.

"No, but when she does, she's alright." Tiella shrugged.

"Very well," Glynda said while adjusting her glasses, her voice spreading clearly through the room. "Please prepare in the locker rooms immediately."

 _"Two people with no Aura, sparring in class. That's a first."_

Glynda thought as she idly followed the two girls moving to the back with her eyes.

Yang walked back to her team's seats and excitedly waited for the two to come out. As they all waited, she was questioned by her friends.

"So why was Lilly wearing a blindfold?" Weiss asked curiously.

"She said it's because her eyes hurt. It's a side effect of using her God Eyes, or so she says."

"So her eyes start to hurt if she uses them too much?" Blake wondered.

"Yup, she says that if she pushes herself after they start hurting, she passes out for, like, a day or something."

Weiss hummed in thought as she took in the new information, clearly, Essentia and Semblances weren't as alike as they all thought.

"I also learned that she's an only child."

"She is?" Blake tilted her head.

"Yup."

"Wait, wait, wait," Jaune interjected. "Isn't anyone wondering why a blind girl is gonna fight Tiella?"

Team RWBY and the rest of Team JNPR shared looks with each other before some of them shrugged while others went into contemplation.

"Tiella said she fights like that sometimes and that when she does, she's 'alright' or something," Yang said with air quotations putting emphasis on ' _alright_ '.

Jaune looked dumbfounded for a little before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw that it was Pyrrha giving him a knowing smile.

"I know that it's a little unconventional, but throughout history, there've always been exceptional people with disabilities that stand head and shoulders above the masses."

There was a slight pause as Jaune thought back on certain war veterans that still fought despite missing a limb or an eye. He even remembered his great grand uncle that fought two peg legs and a missing eye and still came out alive as one of the most celebrated veterans in the great war all those years ago.

"She's right." Ren chimed in with a small smile. "People with disabilities often have something they're exceptional with, and while it may not even things out for them, it makes it so that they're not to be underestimated. And I feel that that is especially so for Lilly."

Everyone thought back to the meeting and most of their doubts about a blind girl fighting the Professional Bully and Team RWBY's mentor were washed away.

" _Besiiides_ ," Nora interjected. "She's Tiella's teammate!"

Everyone nodded their heads in acknowledgment and acceptance of Nora's compelling argument. Nothing's ever normal with the Professional Bully when it came to these kinds of things.

* * *

"How long's it been since we last did this?"

"About a month, I believe."

Tiella was changed into her usual sports attire though this time, she wore a white tank top over her sports bra. For her bottoms, she wore sports shorts over spats that reached down to her mid-thigh. She wrapped gauze and tape over her fists and forearms as well as the soles of her bare feet going up to her mid-calf.

"Not using your dearly beloveds today?"

"Nope, I left them in the dorm rooms and I don't really feel like going back to get them in my current state."

Lilly, since she had nothing else to wear, simply got rid of her hooded cloak and boots, going with bare hands and bare feet as well.

"Tielle?" Lilly called while focusing on bandaging her own hands and feet.

"What's up?" Tiella answered without looking back.

"Do you have an extra tie? I wanna do my hair into a ponytail."

"Yeah, I probably have an extra in my pocket, hold on."

Tiella copped her pockets for a feel as she's sure that she had at least two extras in case her current ones snap. After a couple of seconds, she found them.

"Aha! Here they are," Tiella said before tossing them over to Lilly.

And without looking, for obvious reasons, she stretched her hand out and easily caught the hair ties Tiella tossed her. She smiled and quickly gathered her hair up for a quick and easy ponytail.

"Thanks."

"Sure, sure."

Lilly stood from the bench she'd been sitting on and lightly stretched her shoulders, arms, and back—causing a few popping sounds as she did.

"Ready to get your ass beat again?" Tiella said teasingly.

"Sounds like violence against disabled people."

"You already know that these hands are E-rated."

"That's true." Lilly smiled wryly while scratching her cheek. "I still can't believe you knocked a 12-year-old out without hesitating."

"In my defense, the kid had a knife and was aiming for me."

"You had guns!"

"You telling me I should've just shot the kid? Aren't _you_ brutal?"

Lilly crossed her arms and pouted. "You know what I mean, Tielle! You could've just easily threatened the child to drop the knife and walk away!"

"I could, but I also could've given him a dose of reality, which I did."

"You're really merciless." Lilly sighed.

They both walked out of the lockers and into the arena as if they were just taking a casual stroll at the park.

"Don't hold back, okay?"

"Only because I know you'll get mad if I hold back on you."

"You're darn right!" Lilly grinned.

Glynda eyed the two sternly, though internally, she was quite curious how the match would turn out. Assuming Lilly was equal to or less than Tiella's level, it would be the first time she would see how the girl would fight when faced with someone she was evenly matched with. Thinking back, her match with Leon weeks ago was their first peek at how she'd do, but thinking _further_ back, she realized that it was actually her match with Cardin when they first saw her giving her best, short as that match had been.

She personally believed, without a hint of doubt, that she could defeat Tiella in a serious match easily. There were very few people in the world that could match her Telekinesis, after all. But that's only if Tiella focuses on giving it her _best_ and not her _all_.

 _"Because Tiella giving it her_ _ **all**_ _would mean sinking Beacon Academy down the lake after attracting every single Grimm in the continent—at least, theoretically."_

Extracting herself from her musings, she closed her eyes before focusing back on her task at hand.

"Ms. Lillianne, Tiella, are you both ready?"

"As ever."

"Yes."

"Good." Glynda turned her back on them to face the students. She lightly cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses once more before stoically glancing at everyone in the room. "Attention, students."

The students, as soon as Glynda got their attention, quickly dampened their noise to listen intently lest they catch the ire of The Good Witch of the South herself in her own class.

Once she's sure that her students' attention was on her, she carried on. "This match will be different from the usual as both of our combatants will be sparring without the protection of their Auras, as indicated by the lack of their profiles on our screens."

And suddenly the crowd bubbled into surprised and incredulous murmurs for the next few moments, understandably, Glynda thought. Though, she must gather their attention sooner or later.

"Students," she said sternly. And as if on cue, the students paused whatever they'd been doing in favor of listening to their Combat Instructor. "Please watch carefully as I'm sure you'll all learn at least a thing or two from this exchange. There will no doubt come a time when you'd be forced to fight without your Aura should you truly pursue a career in Huntsmanship."

She paused, gauging her students' reactions. "I, too, have been forced to fight back when my Aura had been depleted a few times, so trust me when I say that it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to experience as a Huntress to date. And I believe that watching this particular matchup will be good for all of you."

The students went silent as they all contemplated Glynda's words. It certainly carried a lot of weight when it came from someone as well-known as her.

Tiella walked up from behind her with a wry grin. "I think you're blowing this out of proportion. It's still just a spar, if you wanna give them something educational, take 'em out into the fields and give them a dose of reality."

Glynda gave Tiella a look before answering. "You'll see what I mean once your match ends." She walked past Tiella to the side of the arena. "Are both combatants ready?"

Tiella glanced at Lilly, who was simply smiling where she stood, before looking back to Glynda to give her a knowing grin.

* * *

Tiella stood a good 10 meters away from Lilly while doing her light dynamic stretches while Lilly did the same, hopping from one foot to another while stretching her shoulders, arms, and neck. After a bit, they both met at the center to bump fists before going back to their original places.

Tiella took her usual relaxed combat stance while Lilly was stiffly bowed low towards Tiella with her fist touching her open palm in front of her before she stood somewhat upright as her head was still slightly bowed. She widened her stance with her legs shoulder-width apart and her open palms were held in front of her, facing the sky—or ceiling, in this case.

The crowd was silent in eager anticipation, and while at least half the students were still skeptical about the supposed blind girl, they couldn't wait to see what a match between fighters without Aura looked like.

As if to sate their curiosity, Tiella made the first move by going for a mad dash for Lilly.

Lilly's ears twitched slightly and waited for Tiella's footsteps to be loud enough that she could practically _feel_ where Tiella was stomping on. She could hear the extremely subtle whistle of the air as Tiella threw a punch for the right side of her head, to which she reflexively raised her right arm to meet and block the offending fist.

Expecting to be blocked, Tiella aimed for a jab with her right fist going for Lilly's chin like she did the night before, and just like her first punch, it was easily blocked by Lilly's left forearm.

Tiella pulled her left arm back to defend herself from Lilly's stab, her fingers aiming for Tiella's face. Tiella made a spiral motion going inward with her left hand to parry Lilly's attempt at blinding her before going for a chest blow with the same left hand she'd used.

Lilly was pushed a few steps back but easily returned the gesture by going low with her hands on the floor and sweep-kicking Tiella off her feet. Tiella leaped ever so slightly with just enough height that she would drop back down almost as soon as she'd jumped, though, before she came down, Lilly's other leg was already aiming for her midsection.

Unable to maneuver herself in the air, she steeled herself for the incoming kick. She was sent skidding on her side for a few feet before she rolled up to find Lilly standing already, poised back to her original stance.

Some of the students—especially Weiss, Blake, and Yang—couldn't believe that Tiella was caught and brought down so early and so easily in a match. _By a blind girl_.

Uncaring of the crowd's surprise and bewilderment, it was Lilly's turn to come charging in. As soon as she ran up to Tiella, she kicked low with her right, jabbed high with her right, threw a left hook going middle, then a right straight going for Tiella's chest.

And to answer, Tiella met the low kick with her own low kick, then caught the right jab with her left hand, elbowed the left hook down, and crossed her arms to scissor and lock Lilly's forearm before her fist was only an inch away from hitting her.

Tiella took back the offensive by twisting her body to the left while tightening her hold on Lilly's forearm. She forcefully kneed Lilly on the side as she was tilted awkwardly, unable to fully block the blow that made her take a sharp breath due to pain. Not one to miss a beat, Tiella capitalized on Lilly's minor disorientation with a strong right backhand, forcefully turning Lilly's cheek away only to follow up with a devastating haymaker with her right fist, square on Lilly's unprotected face.

Or at least, about as unprotected with Lilly's left hand catching Tiella's fist just before it hit her in the face.

Lilly tightened her grip over Tiella's fist while Tiella coiled her left arm over Lilly's right arm and locking it by gripping Lilly's elbow.

As if sharing the same idea, they both forced their way out of the other's hold by throwing their arms up and out. Tiella was the first to attack with a high right jab and a low left hook.

Lilly was hit with the high jab in the face but managed to block Tiella's left hook with her right elbow. She then countered a series of quick and heavy alternating punches aiming for Tiella's entire upper body.

Tiella unceremoniously took the first 5 lightning fast strikes on her face, chest, and shoulders, but after a quick backstep, she closed in once more to trade blows with her own quick and heavy punches, all the while never forgetting to throw one or two kicks every few punches.

Lilly ducked under a high left straight to turn to her left while her stance was low, sending a powerful roundhouse kick at Tiella's exposed left midsection, sending the far taller girl a few steps to her right.

Tiella grinned while lightly feeling for her left underarm, she was sure that it was gonna have a big fat bruise the next day, but she couldn't care less because goddamnit did she miss the sensation of a raw beatdown. She sent a quick low kick with her left foot at Lilly, which was easily blocked, just as she was hoping for before she jumped and turned in the air, extending her right foot out for a devastating spin kick that came crashing down for Lilly's left temple.

Tiella landed with her body turned away from Lilly, knowing full well that Lilly took the full brunt of the kick. Lilly rolled on the floor for a few feet before she unsteadily stood back up, dizzy from the kick that nearly knocked her unconscious.

"Up for more?" She heard Tiella say. She could literally feel Tiella's smug aura oozing from her words, taunting her. Though, they both knew that it wasn't going to work. Taunts never work on her.

"I'm just getting started."

"Good, because I think we're done warming up." Tiella grinned viciously, loudly bumping her fists together.

* * *

"That was a warmup?" Weiss asked in incredulity.

Who knew that a fist fight could be so engaging and blood pumping even when she was just watching from the sidelines? Who knew that a match between people with no Aura almost physically hurt to look at?

It made her cringe every time a blow wasn't blocked as if she almost felt the pain herself.

"That looked like it hurt a lot." Yang whistled.

"Everything looked like it hurt a lot, even the blocked attacks look like it hurt a lot!" Jaune exclaimed.

The others were glued to the match, intensely taking in everything they were watching. To the two combatants in the arena, it was likely that all they did was nothing special, but to the people who'd never considered fighting without Aura before, it was fascinating to see how each blow seemed to carry even more weight than they usually would.

They didn't doubt that even with Aura, those strikes would be painful, considering Tiella's streak of knocking her sparring partners out in just a few blows in most matchups, so seeing her doing the same without the almighty protection of Aura made them question the two girls' sanity and endurance.

Though, it was mostly their sanity they were questioning, rude as it was to think so.

Unaware of the onlookers' bewilderment, Tiella and Lilly carried on to their unofficial round 2.

* * *

Tiella's expression was sharp as she took a more aggressive stance. She had her left foot forward with her right foot back. Her left hand was balled into a fist and held up at chest level while her right hand was more relaxed with an open palm held closer to her body.

Lilly changed her stance as well, entering a stance similar to a taekwondo stance with her fists clenched. She took a deep breath and slowly released it as she relaxed her fists, letting them relax and open almost as if it was a welcoming gesture for her opponent.

Seeing Lilly's stance, Tiella quickly understood her intentions.

 _"Kiddie gloves are off, then. This is gonna get bloody."_

She felt her entire body tense up, muscles bulging and veins throbbing before she calmed down with a slow and steady breath released.

They both moved at nearly the same time, though, unlike before, they were carefully walking towards each other—wary of the other's strike range and sudden movements.

The moment Lilly was within Tiella's range, Tiella quickly struck. She very subtly but forcefully spun on her toe, aiming for a nose-breaking jab that was nearly missed by the audience due to its sheer speed.

Lilly easily pulled her head back a few centimeters, just enough that Tiella's jab missed by a hair's width, though, the force of the jab carried enough wind with it that it parted her fringes slightly. As soon as Tiella's punch missed, Lilly instantly closed in before Tiella managed to fully pull her fist back. Lilly, at extremely close range, struck with her palm at Tiella's face, only to miss by a hair's breadth as well because Tiella managed to tilt her head to her right just in time.

And from there, another series of lightning fast, heavy blows were being traded.

Tiella locked Lilly's extended palm strike in the pit of her arm before sending a right corkscrew that aimed for Lilly's heart, never forgetting to include _spin_ for every move she did from there on out.

Lilly tilted her body to the side, the punch barely missing as it grazed her left breast. She used the momentum from dodging to counter with a few heavy kicks aiming for Tiella's temple, thigh, waist, and temple again, only for it to be blocked by either of Tiella's leg or forearm.

Unperturbed despite her attacks were successfully blocked, Lilly suddenly let herself down while clinging onto the arm that locked her own, sending them both on the floor, rolling, only stopping when she was on top of Tiella, though, Tiella never let go.

Lilly straddled Tiella and tightly clung her legs around Tiella while she repeatedly bashed Tiella's head with her left fist and elbow. Tiella struggled for a while, covering her face and head with her free arm every time Lilly attacked. Most hits she managed to block but the ones that got past her defense she really felt if the dizziness she felt was any indication. She kept blocking until she had enough and met Lilly's crashing fist with the sharp of her elbow, causing the girl to wince in pain for almost breaking her own fingers upon impact.

Taking the moment when Lilly reflexively pulled her fist back, Tiella struck her with a blow directly to her stomach and threw more punches going up to Lilly's chest, neck, and chin.

Lilly, after taking heavy blow after heavy blow, was forced to loosen her grip around Tiella's waist and legs. Tiella took advantage of this by forcefully rocking her lower body upwards, bringing Lilly along what was essentially a backflip that started with Tiella lying down. Tiella steeled her core and carried Lilly's weight until Lilly was overhead and crashed down head first onto the arena's floor.

A sickening crunch was heard and everyone, even Glynda, was worried about whether Tiella just broke Lilly's neck. With Lilly down, Tiella unsteadily stood while taking labored breaths, never once taking her eye off Lilly as she did.

After a few seconds, Lilly rolled to her back and did a kip up with her back turned to Tiella. She almost had the students believing that she was fine until she landed on her feet and wobbled out of balance, barely catching herself before she fell face first on the floor again.

Both Lilly and Tiella took a short respite from bashing each other's heads in for a few moments, so Glynda carefully inspected them in the meantime. And almost as soon as she did, she found Tiella with a bleeding nose, a cut lip, and a cut on her right eyebrow, while Lilly had bloody teeth if the blood she just spat out, was any indication, as well as how she seemed to carefully cover her stomach protectively with her left arm.

"You're really merciless," Lily said, practically gasping the words out while struggling to breathe.

"You'd get mad if I don't take you seriously, right?" Tiella grinned while taking deep breaths as well, though she was a little annoyed that her vision was slightly obscured by the blood coming down her right eyebrow. _"Shit, it won't stop bleeding—the cut's deep."_

"If you were actually serious..." Lilly said, raising a finger tiredly. "...you'd be giving me more than just _that_ already."

"You're forgetting..." Tiella took a sharp breath in as she straightened her back before slacking again. "...that this is just a spar."

Lilly smiled, "Then take it as a fight." Entering her combat stance once more.

Tiella cocked her head cockily to the side while wearing a half-grin. "Well, shit, if that's what you want." She pressed her thumb over her left nostril before she forcefully blew air through her right nostril, sending blood on the floor that had been clogging her nose for a while now. She wiped her nose with the same thumb then rubbed the blood onto her shorts before entering her combat stance as well. "Better stop hitting like a little bitch and come at me for reals."

The pressure Tiella was giving off was nearly palpable even to those from the far back of the classroom. They couldn't understand the feeling at first, though everyone felt that it was something they've experienced at least once before.

Lilly didn't say anything, she simply grinned big and wide, delighted that Tiella was willing to play along with her. She slowly uncoiled the bandages around her hands entirely. Following the act, Tiella did so as well, all the while never letting her gaze move from Lilly.

And so, the unofficial round 3 began.

* * *

Glynda couldn't help but worry.

She worried over Tiella whose eyebrow wouldn't stop bleeding.

She also worried, albeit a lot less, for Lilly who seemed like she'd drop to the floor at any given second.

Even more so when she noticed that whenever she looked at Tiella, she felt this odd but familiar sense of dread, she reckoned that it was similar to what her first encounter with the Grimm was like. Tiella's eyes turned a different kind of sharp and fierce. She guessed that Tiella was about to show everyone what she's _truly_ capable of.

Admittedly, she was very excited, but even more so, she was worried.

Tiella's circle of friends were completely immersed in the match that was happening in front of them. Any thoughts or comments they had they didn't voice. When they saw Tiella bleeding, they half-expected the match to end already with Lilly's win but the both of them were acting like it was nothing more than a minor scrape.

Although, knowing the girl herself, they figured she really will treat the cut as a minor scrape.

While lost in their musings, they almost failed to notice Tiella and Lilly casually walking up to each other and that their hands and forearms were completely bare of the bandages.

"Are you ready?" Tiella asked nonchalantly—as if she was just asking Lilly out for a walk.

Lilly nodded her head while wearing a sweet smile. "Are you?"

Tiella sidestepped to her left the moment she saw Lilly send ax kick where she stood, and in an instant, a cloud of dust engulfed the two, obscuring them from the view of their audience.

From within the dust cloud, they heard the sound of "something" whipping through the air. It was almost like the sound of a whip after striking nothing but air, but it sounded far too thick to be a whip or something similar. And for every "whip" that resounded, the cloud of dust was moved, until it no longer could as it settled.

With their view no longer obstructed, they all slowly understood what was making the odd sound.

Tiella threw blurry jabs and straights at Lilly, to which they were dodged with just a hair's breadth between them, her ponytail ruffling violently in the air as an after effect. She applied spin for every attack she made, which was already something she'd never done in any previous spar before. However, her punches were greatly different in that, compared to the usual ones she did, as Glynda recalled—she pulled her fists back as fast as she threw them every time she struck.

And it was _that_ small difference that made the strange whip-like sound.

 _"She's causing tiny sonic booms with her punches!?"_

Glynda couldn't believe her eyes and ears even when the whip-like sound repeated almost rhythmically throughout the arena. She'd no doubt that even the students found what was happening to be absurd.

Not one to let herself lose, Lilly held less of her physical strength and speed back as she weaved through Tiella's onslaught of machine gun punches. She listened intently to every high-pitched whistle in the air coming from Tiella's insanely fast fists. She wanted to counter, but she simply couldn't. Tiella wasn't letting up at all and it even felt to her like she was going faster with how she was dodging more frequently.

She could try to block a punch, but she feared that that would be the end of it. Not counting the loud booms in the air almost always disrupted her hearing, just the idea that catching even just one of those punches made her believe that whatever she blocked it with would end up broken.

After all, if something as small as the tip of a whip can make the human skin bleed no matter how thick the calluses are, what can a fist-sized ' _whip_ ' do?

 _"She's gotten so much faster than before, it's almost unbelievable! She's done it! She's mastered it!"_

Lilly barely dodged another punch that came for her left cheek, grazing her, leaving a sharp cut that couldn't have come from something as blunt as a fist clenched fist.

 _"She's become a Master of the Flicker Arts!"_

Lilly couldn't help but beam at her dear friend's latest accomplishment as pride and joy welled in her heart.

 _"Karen would be so proud that there's another master like her now!"_

Tiella threw a right feint, though, with how fast it was thrown and pulled back, it may as well have been another sonic punch. The feint barely reached Lilly's chin before it was pulled back and a left body blow aimed at Lilly's core.

Lilly, caught by the feint, pulled her head back to dodge but immediately felt the air rumbling much stronger from below, where she received a direct hit that only registered as soon as she noticed she was already flying meters away. A sickening crunch echoed loudly as blood spurted out of her mouth as all the air in her lungs escaped her.

She rolled a few meters more on the ground as her mind went blank from the pain and to her, it felt as if she was hit by a car running breakneck speeds except all the pain was compressed to the size of a fist on her solar plexus.

 _"I... messed up."_

She tried to get up as she heard Tiella running towards her.

 _"I got too excited for Tielle... that I forgot about how she was now treating this as a fight."_

She put a hand on her knee for support as she struggled to push herself upright, spitting out more blood when she did.

 _"I can't possibly call myself her equal if something like this stopped me in my tracks."_

Lilly's eyes glowed brightly from behind her blindfold. Her breathing she slowly stabilized after much struggling, her footing she had steadied just in time as she was struck by a knee to her face.

At least, that was how Tiella half-expected to happen.

 _"Round 4 it is."_ Tiella thought to herself, blood rushing through her entire body as she savored the strain her muscles were feeling intensely.

Tiella's knee was blocked when Lilly caught it with her left hand. She freed herself by kicking off the girl and landing a few meters away. As she took the time to breathe, she glared back at Lilly glaring at her with eyes brightly aglow.

Without taking her eyes off of Lilly, she blinked. And the next thing she knew, the world went sideways and that she was moving at high speeds with Lilly all but disappeared.

Lilly had been standing beside Tiella, eyes burning a bright purple hue. She was slowly pulling her fist back while releasing her breath after taking a heavy stomp forward, causing cracks to form beneath her foot, before bouncing the energy off of it into her fist for a devastating blow to the side of Tiella's head.

Tiella crashed onto the ground after flying for what she guessed was at least a dozen meters from where she stood, spider web-like cracks appearing under her. Dazed and in pain, she felt a chill down her spun that made her duck reflexively, just in time for her to go under a kick that likely would've broken her neck had she bit a split second slower.

Tiella jumped up like a spring while turning around. There, she saw Lilly in the middle of a revolution from her kick that nearly missed, already switching legs to throw a straight kick upwards to kick Tiella away in the air.

Tiella saw the move and quickly grabbed onto Lilly's leg to maneuver herself in the air around her kick. She then used gravity plus her weight to bring Lilly's leg down, the sharp of her elbow already poised to smash at Lilly's thigh.

Tiella's elbow struck and it shocked Lilly's body through sheer pain, pausing her in her attempts to pull herself away from Tiella's hold. Capitalizing once, Tiella pulled her left arm far back while her right arm was coiled tightly around Lilly's leg to keep her from escaping.

Tiella took a sharp breath in, spinning on her toes as she inched her left fist forward at lightning speeds—the destination, Lilly's chin.

With only a scant amount of centimeters between Tiella's fist and Lilly's chin, the sound of bones shattering resonated loudly as Tiella was sent flying in the opposite direction as she was negated by an unknown force while Lilly simply plopped down, gently cradling her thigh in agony.

Tiella sucked sharp and labored breaths in, biting her lower lip hard enough to draw blood as she shakily beheld her left hand in front of her—fingers shattered and mangled.

" _I-I'm sorry!_ "

Tiella had a hard time directing even a little bit of her attention to anything else, but she heard the sound of Glynda's frantic voice and heels clacking, running towards her.

"I didn't mean for your fist to—!"

"So that's why there was a barrier there..." Tiella grinned, eyes half-closed as she fought to stay awake. "Good... call..."

And the last thing Tiella saw was Glynda anxiously looking back at her while saying something she couldn't understand before she finally passed out.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I'm sorry if this chapter isn't much but, you see, there's this itch I've been wanting to scratch for weeks now and I really needed to get on with it or else I'll only be distracted by it while writing further along._

 _The itch, if you haven't guessed, is writing a fight scene._

 _Worry not! I will release another chapter at least of equal length next time!_

 _To answer some of the reviews, I'm happy to know that you've been enjoying Lost Star immensely! It's an honor, really. And as for the confusion with Lilly's Essentia, I purposefully made it like so and would like to go into it, along with the others, in further detail at a later chapter._

 _As for supporting the Original Maidens theory, I actually found it funny when I read that review because I never knew there was such a theory in the first place. I watched V6, saw the episode, then concluded that it was canon without stopping to question whether it might simply be a theory with how heavily it had been implied. Of course, I'd be fine with being proven wrong, but until then, I'd like to think that Salem gave birth to the first four maidens, then killed her husband and kids because she's a cunt._

 _Do let me know your thoughts, thank you!_


	27. Chapter 27

AN: _Hello again!_

 _So…_

 _One of you demanded more Glynda x Tiella fluff and wondered whether I would ever write lemon._

 _The fluff stuff you don't need to tell me twice about!_

 _The lemon and lime though…_

 _Hmm…_

 _Well…_

 _Don't give me that look, you just go on ahead and read the chapter, okay?_

* * *

There was a glow.

Soft, purple, and warm.

It was comforting to look at and being enveloped with it made one feel protected.

There was a hand.

Held onto another's.

One that was wrapped in a cast.

 _"She's fine."_

Glynda looked on worriedly, unable to keep the concern from showing over her face despite understanding that Tiella would be fine. She sat beside Tiella's bed in the infirmary, holding her broken fingers gently into hers as she slowly passed her Aura to the sleeping girl. Her expression was serene now and she truly was just sleeping because of exhaustion.

 _"She's fine."_

Like a mantra, she kept repeating those two words in her mind as she continuously supplied Tiella her Aura to jumpstart hers so that she may recover on her own.

"She's fine," she said, her voice soft and small.

Tiella's entire body was wrapped in bandages with even one of her limbs encased in a cast. Her head was wrapped up as well, covering her right eyebrow except for the right side of her face which was swollen. Her upper torso was wrapped up too after she found her lower ribs broken near both flanks. Her right eye was showing signs of darkening, likely the beginning of a black eye.

At first glance, it seemed like that was all she had for injuries, but upon closer inspection and an x-ray scan, she found that most—if not all—the muscles in her body had been torn and damaged.

 _"She's fine."_

After some time and a little bit more effort, Tiella's Aura had finally recovered in no small part thanks to her, and so, she'd stopped supplying her own Aura to let Tiella's own take care of the rest. She'd guessed that with Aura, her injuries should heal up within the next few days—a week at most. Breathing a sigh of relief, she set her gaze on the bed across Tiella's.

There, a girl who was even more heavily wrapped in bandages and casts. Her hands and arms were in casts and so was her neck. And much like Tiella, she was wrapped entirely in bandages—soundly sleeping based on her steady breathing.

 _"These girls are insane."_

Glynda moved to the girls—to Lilly's side and did another inspection of her injuries. She'd supply the girl with Aura as well, but it wouldn't be much help as Lilly's was still locked. She'd sooner run out of Aura before the girl could even begin to recover her torn muscles and sprained limbs. Her best option was to wait for the girl to wake up so that she may unlock her Aura for her.

She moved back to her seat right next to Tiella, brushing aside her fringes, gently running her thumb over her lover's face.

 _"How could they let things escalate in a spar? And she kept telling me she doesn't take spars seriously. If that wasn't serious, I'd never want to see her in a real fight without Aura."_

Thinking back, her hands unconsciously clenched as a scowl appeared on her face, looking away from Tiella in shame and regret.

 _"No... it wasn't their fault. I could have easily rejected Ms. Lillianne's request. More than that, if I hadn't broken Tiella's Aura earlier today..."_

Glynda took a deep breath, releasing it slow and easy to calm her mind and heart, to little effect. She peeked under the bandage covering Tiella's cut on her right eyebrow—finding that it had already healed itself completely, leaving a very faint discoloration of scar tissue that left a line across her eyebrow.

 _"Now she looks even more like a boy… but this should disappear in time."_

Glynda scowled deeper as she removed the bandage. She gently ran her hands over Tiella's injuries for another inspection, relieved that her Aura was doing its job as expected. She gently touched the fingers on Tiella's left hand once more, wondering how long it would take for her hand to heal.

 _"If I remember correctly, she's left-handed."_

She was reminded of her attempt to stop the match again. She wanted to place a small barrier in front of Lilly to prevent Tiella from doing any further damage to Lilly as it had already taken a turn that would've left both combatants in real danger.

 _"I'm so stupid. I could've just restrained their movements instead."_

Though, she did perish the thought soon after thinking so.

 _"No, they were both moving at extreme speeds. Suddenly stopping their entire bodies like that might have been more harmful than a hand crashing into my barrier going past the speed of sound."_

What _had_ happened after their match?

As soon as the match ended, Glynda quickly called for any vacant professor to take over for the remaining duration of the match. Peach answered and hurriedly went for the Combat Class. As soon as Peach arrived, Glynda carried Tiella and Lilly in stretchers to the infirmary.

 _"My class should end in 15 minutes if it goes according to schedule. I expect to have some company by then."_

Unexpectedly, she heard the sound of someone coming into the room. She'd wondered whether it was one of her students, worried over Tiella. Who she found instead was Bardel, top naked with a towel draped around his neck and shoulders.

"Mr. Armas."

Bardel looked at her with an ever-bored gaze, giving her a nod of acknowledgment. "Glynda."

"Tiella and Ms. Lillianne are simply sleeping right now."

Bardel eyed his two companions, expression unchanging before he shrugged and took a seat beside Lilly, arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair, looking quite relaxed and completely unconcerned if the way he just closed his eyes as if he was about to take a nap was any indication.

"Guess that means we won't be having our match later—been hoping for a good fight ever since I got here and all this time, she's the only one that's ever delivered. Aside from you, every Aura punk has been a weakass pussy wearing boots too big for them—thinking they're hot shit just because they got Semblances or some crap."

"Are you not worried?"

"Nope," Bardel answered without opening his eyes.

"You mean to say that this is normal for you three?"

"Nah, we've just seen worse days."

"..."

"They probably got so into it that they forgot that we don't have Karen with us to patch us up again— _the fucking morons_." He scoffed. "What I'm mad about is how they didn't invite me."

Curious, Glynda found Bardel's nonchalant attitude odd before she simply discarded the thought and chalked them all up to ' _that's just how it is for them_ '.

"Where were you?"

"In the gym."

"I see."

"You guys have nice equipment—a little fragile, but it's good enough, better than just plain calisthenics and using boulders as weights like I'm used to," Bardel said casually. "Sorry about some barbells though. Some of them broke because I thought they could carry more weight."

"I'll have it cut out of Tiella's pay."

At that, Bardel snickered.

"Poor bitch."

At that, Glynda felt a little irked.

"Must you call your friend so crudely?" She said, eyeing Bardel with a critical brow raised.

"If she can call me every word that means ' _fucking idiot_ ' then I can call her every word that means ' _fucking bitch_ '." He shrugged. "Tit for tat."

 _"They share a peculiar friendship with each other. I don't often see it but when I do, I'm sure that they're tightly knit."_

"Such honesty between friends is enviable, I suppose."

Bardel opened one eye to peek at Glynda, raising his eyebrow at her questioningly.

"You're Tiella's woman. Expect the same treatment." He closed his eyes again, content with simply relaxing in his chair before he chuckled a little. "Well, even if you weren't, you'd still get the same treatment."

"Clearly, you're not fond of authority." Glynda looked away, a small blush appearing on her cheeks.

"I only acknowledge strong people. In a lot of cases, ' _people of authority_ ' are just pencil pushers that don't do shit other than filling their pockets and jack themselves off for a job well done by their own subordinates." He said resolutely. "And these two dumbshits are some of the strongest I know."

"Shut your fucking mouth, Bardy. I can't sleep with all your goddamned yapping."

He opened his eyes and leaned forward on his knees to look back at Tiella while wearing a wry smile. The girl in question was still lying on her back as she's unable to move her body at all, so the best she could do was tilt her head a little in his direction.

"Why don't I give you another punch to help you go back to sleep, shitface?"

"Why don't you come on over here and say it to my face, asshole?"

"Ooohh, _scary_." He grinned smugly. "It's even scarier when I look at you all bandaged up like some fucking mummy."

"You'll be the one looking like a fucking mummy as soon as I get out of this cast and get my hands around your fucking neck—"

"Tiella." Glynda cut in.

"Sup, honey?" Tiella grinned, happy to see Glynda beside her and holding her hand even if she can't feel it.

"Play nice."

"Oh, come on!" She pouted.

"Listen to your _wife_ , bitch."

" _Wife?!_ " Glynda said in surprise, looking between Bardel and Tiella dubiously.

"You know what?" Tiella said in a rather proud grin, relaxing back on her pillow. "You say some pretty nice things from time to time, so maybe this time, I will."

"So noisy..."

All three of them turned their gazes towards the bed beside Bardel to see Lilly blearily looking up at the ceiling.

Tiella chuckled, "Blame King Kong beside you."

" _Fuck_ you."

"Fuck _you_."

" _Tiella_."

" _Tielle_."

"What the hell!?" Tiella yelled indignantly. "Why only me—ow, ow, ow…!"

In an instant, Glynda was already looking over Tiella worriedly.

"What's wrong?" she asked with barely hidden concern.

"Fuck me..." Tiella said, mostly out of reflex, but in doing so, earned an incredulous look from Glynda—face flushed deeply. " _My everything fucking hurts._ "

Glynda blinked, processing Tiella's words in her head before she sighed. Lilly giggled, closing her eyes to rest a little longer. "Sorry, guys. I need to... hmm... rest some..."

They waited a few seconds for more words to follow but instead all they got was the sound of Lilly breathing steadily again.

"She's out like a fucking light," Bardel commented. "Did she use _The One Almighty?_ "

"Yeah." Tiella nodded, hearing a ' _what a fucking idiot_ ' remark from Bardel, before relaxing on her pillow once again until she noticed Glynda's expression. "What's wrong?"

Glynda looked at Tiella with a frown on her face before looking down and away. "I'm... I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For breaking your Aura earlier."

"You and I both know I had that coming," Tiella said casually.

"But if I hadn't, I wouldn't have broken your fist."

"Shit happens, nothin' new." Tiella easily dismissed.

Glynda remained silent, only frowning deeper. Tiella noticed so she let out a sigh, and if she could, she'd run her hand through her hair in exasperation. She thought a bit about what to properly say to get her girlfriend to stop feeling guilty and after a few, she grinned with an idea.

"If you're so guilty, then you can do me a little favor instead," she said, giving Glynda her cheeky smile.

Confused about the smile, Glynda tilted her head a bit before asking. "What would you like?"

Tiella smiled wider, "We get to hold hands in public and you cook me lunch every day from now on."

Glynda paused to take Tiella's words in, weighing her choices in mind silently while staring back at Tiella's pair of sharp gold. A moment later, she took Tiella's hand into hers again, circling her thumb on Tiella's thumb—earning a look of pure happiness from the girl.

Seeing the look, Glynda thickly swallowed. "I'm sorry, I can't."

Her words caused Tiella to stiffen, her face was still smiling like before, though her eyes expressed out-and-out shock. Tiella forced her smile up as she quickly pulled her hand away despite the pain it made her feel.

"That's ok—"

"Y-You're mistaken!" Glynda quickly cut in after seeing the face Tiella was wearing. She quickly grabbed Tiella's hand with both of hers—making Tiella wince a little as she tenderly held it. "I... Tiella, i-it's not what you think, okay? Hear me out, please?"

Tiella, confused, could only remain silent, only nodding her head with pursed lips as her answer. Relieved, Glynda breathed out a small sigh.

"I meant to say that..." She started, picking her words carefully. "...I would be willing to do those things with you regardless of whether you say so or not."

The corners of Tiella's lips twitched upwards as she slowly processed Glynda's words, tilting her head in curiosity as she listened to Glynda continue.

"I declined because I didn't want the reason I started doing so to be because it was my way of making it up to you," She said, a small pout apparent on her face as she blushed at her own words. "I will hold your hand in public not simply because I know it'll make you happy, but also because I've been wanting to as well. I was simply holding back from doing it because of my position in this school."

Tiella wore a small smile on her face, a little disappointed in herself because to her, she was acting immaturely.

"Sorry, I guess I've been acting a little too much like a kid, huh?"

"It's fine, you're still young—be as immature as you want," Glynda said with a small smile of her own. "As the adult in this relationship, I'll take care of you."

Tiella laughed for a bit before she winced in pain again. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...!"

"Geez, why did you laugh?" Glynda asked, a wry smile on her face.

Tiella smiled as she bit her lips through the pain for a little before speaking again. "It's just that, if you keep this up, you're gonna turn me into a useless person who's dependent on you."

Glynda grinned, "Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't turn out useless. I might want to spoil you from time to time but I'll be sure to whip you up into an upstanding citizen."

"Yeah, sure, okay, whatever." Tiella rolled her eyes, earning a light giggle from Glynda which sounded like music to her ears.

Bardel huffed through his nose as he watched the lovers' exchange from his seat. Deciding that whatever they do with their lives is none of his business, he simply went back to taking a nap. After a while of silence, Tiella wore a pensive expression that Glynda didn't fail to see. Wondering what it could possibly be, she was about to ask for her thoughts when she heard footsteps coming into the room.

"Celeste!"

"Yang, don't be too noisy! What if she's still sleeping?"

Tiella smiled at the familiar voices. "I'm not, but still, don't make too much noise—Lilly's resting."

Quickly, Yang and the rest came into view from behind the curtains separating each bed. They were smiling when they peeked but their expressions quickly transformed to shock when they saw both Lilly and Tiella's state. Speechless with their mouths hanging open and their eyes wide, Tiella was, again, wincing in pain from being unable to keep herself from laughing.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow... motherf—"

"Tiella," Glynda called sternly.

"Whaaat?" Tiella pouted.

"Please refrain from swearing in front of the children."

Tiella looked at Glynda dubiously for a few seconds before she looked up with an idea forming in her head to which she decidedly nodded with pursed lips at Glynda's words. Surprised, Glynda couldn't help but raise a brow at how easily Tiella agreed with her. Noticing the silent question, Tiella grinned at her, then at the stunned Beacon students, then back at her.

"I'd usually say ' _fuck no_ '," she said, earning a small frown from Glynda. "but I just realized that it sounded like you were talking about me swearing in front of our kids with the way you said it and I'm totally cool with living that fantasy."

It was Glynda's turn to hang her mouth and open her eyes wide to give Tiella an incredulous, deep blushing look while the students stifled their laughter from getting too loud.

 _"God, she's so cute. How did I win this hard in life?"_

Tiella fondly looked at Glynda who'd been trying to form words if the way her mouth open and closed was any indication.

"It's amazing how your mind works, Celeste," Yang commented from the side.

"Thanks, I try to be honest with my life. I find that it gives me less bullshit as I go." Tiella shrugged.

"Get a room."

They all looked to Bardel who looked like he was still taking a nap with how his arms were crossed in front of him and his head leaning on the backrest.

"We have an apartment."

"So go there."

"Why don't you just fuck off?"

"Tiella!"

"Didn't your wife just tell you not to swear anymore?"

"Sorry, wifey, force of habit." Tiella smiled apologetically, finding Glynda's face blushing a shade deeper. Feeling a little mischievous, she doubled down on the teasing. "Sorry, don't you like being called 'wifey'?" She asked, flustering Glynda even more. Glynda was about to answer but she cut in before she could get a word out. "I could call you 'honey' if you want." Tiella grinned. "Or 'dear'."

And for every word, Glynda somehow managed to blush a little brighter.

"Or 'sugar'."

"Sto—"

"Or 'sweetie'."

"That's eno—"

"Or 1 and 1/2 cup flour."

"..."

"2 tablespoons sugar."

"..."

"2 teaspoons baking powder."

"..."

"1 teaspoon baking soda."

"..."

"1 cup of milk."

"..."

"2 large eggs."

"..."

"1/4 cup melted butter."

"..."

"Preheat the griddle to medium-high heat."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Are you done?"

"All that's left is to wait for you to finish cooking so I can eat you up."

Glynda was biting her lip in frustration, her hand already raised to slap Tiella again but quickly managed to stop herself from doing so. Tiella flinched away a little after seeing Glynda's hand going up, but her grin didn't really disappear. Tiella teased Glynda with a cheeky smile and a wink which prompted Glynda to lightly hit Tiella on her shoulder a few times, making the girl flinch in pain every time.

"Ow, Glynda, _stop-_ that's-!"

"How _dare_ you say that in front of my _students!_ "

"Okay! Okay! Ow! I'm sorry! My everything still hurts! I'm sorry, please!"

"You have _no_ shame!"

"Ow! Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! Ow!"

" _Shameless!_ "

Glynda paused, threateningly pointing her finger at Tiella's nose. Tiella, on the other hand, had tears on the corner of her eyes as she half-pouted, half-smiled. She looked back at Glynda scowling at her with a fairly deep flush on her cheeks. Glynda glared at her for a quick second before sending her glare back at her students who'd been tittering from the side, causing them to stop immediately. She stood abruptly, turning her cheek away from Tiella with a harrumph as she strode through her students. She paused at the door to give Tiella one last blushing glare.

"You're sleeping here tonight."

Tiella gasped audibly, eyes wide as her mouth hung agape. She watched in shock as Glynda walked out of the room, her heels clacking and clicking softer and softer as she went.

"Good job, Celeste, I've never seen Professor Goodwitch act like that," Yang commented.

"Me neither," Weiss added.

"Same," Blake said.

And the rest of Team JNPR wordlessly agreed, except for Nora. "Yeah, she looked so adorable!"

Ignoring everyone's comments, Tiella panicked. "Glynda, I'm sorry! I love you!"

Suddenly, there was a sound of hurried clacking and clicking coming closer. After a few seconds, Glynda entered the room with a face completely flushed red. She rushed towards Tiella to grab her by the collar.

" _Some students heard you!_ " Glynda whispered in complete exasperation.

Tiella opened her mouth to say something again but paused to stare back at Glynda pouting at her with a glare. So instead, she leaned her head forward, despite the strain, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She pulled back, giving Glynda, who curiously managed a brighter flush on her cheeks, a sincerely apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry?"

Glynda still held Tiella by the collar as she wordlessly looked back at Tiella with a dubious gaze.

"Forgive me?"

Glynda released a pent-up sigh through a huff from her nose, so Tiella promptly wrapped her arms around Glynda's waist, consciously stopping herself from wincing visibly, to pull themselves closer to each other until Tiella was back to lying down on the bed and Glynda was looming over her—her hands beside Tiella's head.

Glynda wasn't glaring anymore, but she was looking back at Tiella with a sulking face. Seeing the look, Tiella couldn't help but smile fondly, then, behind Glynda, she held her finger up and out, pointing at Yang and the others, twirling it around and shooing them with a couple of waves of her hand. Her friends shared looks with each other, each one wearing wry smiles on their faces. They gave Tiella a silent acceptance with thumbs ups and nods before they all moved out of the room.

Even Bardel followed suit after noticing the atmosphere in the room, albeit begrudgingly.

Glynda cast her gaze sideways, looking at the door through the corner of her eyes just in time to see Bardel leaving. She set her eyes back to Tiella's, pouting further as Tiella smiled at her—despite being thankful that they were alone.

"You're really unfair, you know that?"

Tiella playfully scoffed. " _I'm_ unfair? Have you seen the way you _pout?_ " She whispered with a bite of her lip. "That angry look on your face? You're giving me that look right now and it just makes me wanna _gobble you up_."

Glynda pointed her finger at the door and waved it shut with her Semblance.

"You shouldn't be saying things like that within earshot of a student." Glynda lightly and softly scolded. "You never know when one of them has exceptional hearing."

"You do know that if Lilly happened to be awake right now, she'd still hear us even if we whispered like this?" Tiella grinned.

"She's not my student, so I don't mind. And besides..." Glynda sat on the side of Tiella's bed and waved her finger in front of Tiella's face, moving the curtains to hide from any passing curious eyes. "...we can do this, too."

Tiella smiled at her warmly, passionate golds lost in glimmering emeralds and it was enough for Glynda to feel a comforting, uplifting warmth spread from her chest.

"See?" Glynda said, touching their foreheads together lightly. "You're being unfair, too."

"Oh really?" Tiella laughed, raising a curious brow.

Glynda gave Tiella a quick kiss before pulling away with a pout. "That _smile_ really catches me off guard, you know?"

Even though it was something other people have seen before, it was still a smile that was only for her—and the thought of that gave her butterflies in her stomach.

Tiella laughed, eyes softening. "Are you still mad?" She asked, gently running circles on Glynda's cheek with her thumb. "I'm sorry, but you're just so damn cute and sexy when you're mad."

Glynda pouted, though the upper twitch of the edges of her mouth said that she was simply putting up a front. She glanced to the side before returning her gaze to peer down on Tiella. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to make love to me right now."

"I would," Tiella grinned. "but we still have that date to go to before that, right?"

"That's right."

"Where do you wanna go?"

"You don't have to worry about that. You're new to Vale, let me take care of it."

"Okay, when do you wanna go?"

"Not tonight, obviously."

"Never underestimate my ability to suck pain up for your booty."

"You're ruining the moment, you know that?"

Tiella pulled Glynda's head lower for another kiss, longer and more passionate than the quick ones from before. "How about now?"

"Your attempt was admirable, at least." Glynda said with an eyeroll.

"I tried." Tiella shrugged before she grinned wider. "But you know what's good about it?"

"What?"

Tiella pulled Glynda in for another kiss, much like before. "I get to keep trying~" She said with a playful singing tune to her words.

Glynda couldn't help the small smile on her lips after the kiss. "You're quite sly."

"What do I get for being sly?"

Glynda dived for another, savoring the feeling of her lips upon her lover's. "Me," she said, eyeing Tiella thirstily with a bite of her lower lip.

Tiella grinned salaciously, licking her lips as an intense feeling of want shimmered through her eyes. "Way better than winning the lottery."

Glynda sighed, the moment was nearly idyllic. If only Tiella wasn't so injured, she'd have preferred spending their time holding each other in a rather warm and comfortable embrace. Though, even if Tiella wasn't, she still had her business as a Professor to attend to for the rest of the day. Oblivious to Glynda's musings, Tiella moved to the side of her bed and pulled Glynda along with her.

With a surprised little yelp, Glynda was pulled into a comforting hug with Tiella's chin atop her head. "What are you doing?"

"Resting with the best body pillow in the world," Tiella said while grabbing a handful of Glynda's butt and sniffing her hair. Her muscles were howling in pain, but she didn't mind—a moment spent with Glynda is an important moment that should be spent wisely, she felt.

Glynda flicked Tiella on the abs, causing the girl to wince in both pain and surprise. "Ow!"

"I still have work to do, let me go. And remove your hand."

"No."

"Tiella..."

"No."

"Tiella, please."

"5 more minutes."

"Stop acting like you just woke up in the morning."

"I'd love to wake up to the sight of you in the morning again."

"You can if you let me go."

"But will you? I thought you said I was gonna sleep here tonight."

Glynda paused for a moment, idly wandering her eyes around the tight bandages that wrapped around Tiella's toned body. She was practically naked under her dress shirt—which was left opened and unbuttoned for easier breathing—and it revealed a sturdy core that was continuously built upon and strengthened over the years.

"Fine."

"Really?" Tiella said while looking down, unable to contain the glee in her voice.

Glynda looked up to see the look of felicity in Tiella's eyes. It made her wonder about the girl even more.

 _"She makes me feel so wanted. What did I do to have this effect on her?"_

She reached her hand up to touch Tiella's cheek. Tiella was confused for a second but she quickly leaned into Glynda's hand, holding it with her own for her to kiss the palm of.

 _"I want to know more about you."_

After planting a few kisses on Glynda's palm, she started sucking on one of her fingers. The act surprised Glynda and she saw the way Tiella was looking at her hungrily. Tiella's hand on her butt clenched, eliciting a high-pitched gasp out of her.

"Tiella..." she said weakly, "...stop that."

Tiella ignored Glynda's weak plea and carried on, sucking, licking, and lightly nibbling on her fingers, all the while planting more kisses every now and then. It wasn't until Tiella took a sharp breath in when she realized that Tiella was simply enduring pain in favor of pleasing both her and herself.

"Tiella," she whispered with a little bit of her sternness mixed into it as she gently pulled her hand away in favor of cupping Tiella's cheek once more. "you're still in pain."

"But I want to please you," Tiella said breathily.

"You already are." Glynda ran circles on Tiella's cheek with her thumb. "So you don't have to do it at your expense."

Tiella stayed silent for a short moment before she nodded. "Okay."

They were content to simply stare into each other's eyes, both finding themselves lost in the other's until Tiella broke the silence with a soft giggle.

"What's so funny?" Glynda asked in curiosity.

"Nothing." Tiella smiled warmly. "Nothing is."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"If you say so."

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I so fucking love you."

Glynda giggled, a wry smile paired with a brow raised on her face. "Must you swear?"

"Of course, it adds emphasis."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, it can even mean another thing if I put the cuss at a different part of the sentence."

"Like?"

Tiella grinned, wide and salacious as she spoke with whispered words. " _I so love fucking you._ "

Glynda flushed at her words. She pursed her lips while giving Tiella a playful angry look. Then, an idea came to mind that made her grin cheekily. Seeing the change in expression, Tiella wondered what Glynda would do to her next. She expected a cheeky response along the lines of ' _but you haven't, and even if you had the chance, can you?_ '.

Instead, she got Glynda straddling her waist and looking down at her thirstily, a ravenous gleam present in her eyes.

"Nice view."

Tiella grinned as she bit her lip, soaking up the image of Glynda's figure covered only by her skin-tight blouse and skirt—her skirt that was pulled up, revealing the barest hint of her black lingerie underneath it and the black stockings—etching the image deep into her memory. Glynda adjusted her glasses, her eyes revealing a playful glint. She touched Tiella's lips with her thumb, running it across her lower lip.

Tiella kissed it and was about to nibble and suck on it when Glynda ran her forefinger from the corner of her lips to her cheek. Then, Glynda's finger went down her jawline, across her neck until under her chin, then down her collarbone until it finally reached her chest.

There was an intense lust in Tiella's eyes that Glynda didn't miss, and it made her feel all the more wanted and mischievous.

"Say my name." She commanded as she looked down on Tiella, slowly and sensually running her forefinger on her chest in circles.

Just the sensation of her finger pressing against her, even through her clothes and bandages, was enough to have the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Tiella gulped, swallowing a lump in her throat as arousal peaked from within, she snaked her hands up Glynda's legs to her waist but was quickly denied by a light tap on her hand, finding a raised brow and a roguish smile aimed at her.

" _I didn't say you could do that._ "

Her eyes widened at the implications. Oh, how she was so close to losing her mind.

She felt immensely aroused but because she was barely stimulated, she also felt an equal amount of frustration welling within her and it nearly drove her insane. Her breathing was heavy and her fingers were twitchy, but she stayed and quelled her desires as ordered by the woman before her.

She understood that at that moment, she was absolutely powerless before her. And for some reason, she felt that that was just fine despite always being on top no matter who she paired with.

Glynda gave her a squint-eyed glare from above before she forced her finger down her chest. " _Don't make me repeat myself_."

Tiella took a sharp breath as her heart drummed heavily in her chest. It was nerve-wracking how she felt an equal mix of intense pleasure, pain, and frustration—just the touch of her made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and tingly again. Weakly and softly, she answered as she bit her lip.

"Glynda..."

Glynda glared harder, pushing her finger a little bit harsher than before, eliciting a weak yelp out of her. " _Wrong_."

"Wha—"

"I didn't give you permission to say anything else." Glynda quickly cut in, holding her cheeks with one hand to stifle her words. "As of this moment until we're done," Glynda leaned low until her face was inches away from hers. " _I am your Mistress._ "

Tiella's eyes went wide as an excited (aroused) smile spread across her face despite Glynda's hold on her cheeks.

"Am I clear?"

Tiella, lost for words, nodded her head dumbly.

" _Am I clear?_ " Glynda leaned closer with a glare until there was barely any distance between them.

Tiella swallowed thickly, a chill ran down her spine and she found that it was quite welcome. "Y-Yes."

"'Yes' _what?_ "

Tiella gasped. "Y-Yes, Mistress."

Glynda let go of her cheeks as she sat upright atop her waist once again. Tiella found Glynda peering down on her with a ravenous look once more.

"Good girl." She heard Glynda say as she watched her lick her lips.

And it fucking aroused her even more.

Glynda raised her right hand and snapped her fingers—and the act was quickly followed by the sound of windows and doors shutting and locking. Watching in wide-eyed anticipation, she awaited her Mistress's next order impatiently while under her. Glynda grinned and wordlessly kissed Tiella passionately while caressing her head and shoulders.

Tiella returned in kind, thirstily and hungrily taking in Glynda. She snaked her hands on Glynda's legs to reach up and caress her as well, but her hands were quickly pulled up by Glynda's Semblance, crossed above her head where she couldn't move them even if she tried.

 _"_ _ **Oh my fucking god.**_ _"_

Glynda kissed the edges of her lips, then went down on a trail of kisses on her jaw to leave a hickey on her collarbone. Then she felt Glynda cupping her breasts, making her take a sharp breath.

"Oh _**ffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccckkk...!**_ "

Glynda went up again, never letting up on implanting kisses, dragging her lips and tongue on her body as she went up to nibble her ear before she took a short break—resting, breathing heavily in her ear, and it felt like her mind was _breaking from the pleasure of it all_.

 _It was absolutely electrifying_.

"M-Mistress..." She moaned in a whisper rather involuntarily, surprised at herself with how easily she accepted her new role.

Glynda looked at her with this... _insatiable hunger_ in her eyes. She was biting her lip as she took in the sight of her wanting— _begging_ for more. Glynda kissed her on the cheek again before she gently snaked down, trailing her neck, collarbone, and chest. She moaned in pure ecstasy when she felt Glynda suckling at her through her clothes and bandages. She felt her legs tighten and coil despite the strain left by her match from just a few hours ago.

"I... M-Mistress, I..."

She moaned, taking another sharp breath after feeling Glynda lightly nibble on her nipple.

"Ffffffffuuu- _ **ahh—!**_ "

She looked down when she felt Glynda gently snaking down once again, mindful not to put pressure on areas she was sure to be painfully injured. She felt Glynda running her hands down on her waist until she was holding onto her hips, raining kisses on her abdomen all the while.

"Mi-... _**ahn—!**_ "

She couldn't help but let a high pitched yelp when Glynda tightly grabbed her ass after reaching behind her while running her lips down her navel. Her body nearly sprung up, stiffening at the intense pleasure she was feeling.

She wanted more.

 _She needed more_.

She looked down again to see Glynda looking up at her from between her raised and open legs. Then, she grinned.

Glynda left one quick kiss where her cherry was through her pants before she stood and left.

Tiella laid dumbfounded, arms still crossed and held above her head by Glynda's Telekinesis, as she watched Glynda snap her fingers again to undo the locks and open the windows and curtains while walking away with a pleased grin on her flushed face. She gave one last glance from the corner of her eyes and adjusted her glasses—waving her finger to fix Tiella's disheveled clothes back to how they were as if nothing ever happened.

"I think _I so love fucking you too_ , Tiella," Glynda whispered audibly before giving her a wink and promptly exiting the room.

Leaving Tiella in a state of complete and utter confusion, arousal, and frustration.

Suddenly, she felt her hands freed from Glynda's telekinetic hold and for a while, she was simply staring at the door dumbfoundedly, breathing heavily.

Speechlessly, she grabbed her pillow and stifled an incoherent, eldritch scream that expressed all of her frustrations.

* * *

 _In the hallway meanwhile..._

 _"Goodness gracious, I can't believe I did that!"_

Glynda was hiding her face in her hands as she leaned her back on a wall for support in an empty hallway—the hint of a bright red flush on her face apparent even on her ears.

 _"How am I supposed to show my face to her later!?"_

Much like a certain bed-ridden redhead, she was also screaming internally as she bit her lip in immense frustration and embarrassment.

 _"How could I let myself do something so utterly shameless!?"_

After a bit, she straightened herself and fixed her clothes and hair, adjusting her glasses as well, before carrying on with her day through the empty hallway as if she wasn't just about to have sex with her significant other in the infirmary only to leave her hanging as a prank.

 _"Mother in heaven, Father in heaven, your daughter unwittingly grew into such a sexually frustrated, impure woman. I hope you find it in your hearts to forgive her."_

Yet, even with such thoughts, she couldn't keep the small smile on her face away as she deeply craved the feeling of pressing her skin against her beloved as well as a little something awakening inside her.

* * *

 _Back at the infirmary..._

 _"Glynda, you god damn fucking_ _ **tease**_ _. I love you so fucking much but, Jesus fucking Christ, I swear I'll get back at you for this."_

While Tiella was face-flushed chock-full of intense sexual frustration that made her worry she'd get what was equivalent to female blue balls, she heard another set of footsteps coming into the room. She looked to the door and found Coco pulling an unwilling Velvet into the room by the arm followed by Yatsuhashi and Fox.

"Come _on_ , Velvs, why are you making this so difficult?"

"I... I can't say it!"

There, she saw Velvet hiding her face behind her ears and free hand as she was unsteadily pulled into the room and in front of her bed.

"Look, she's up," Coco said with a point of her hand and did a double take as soon as she did. "And she looks fucked up."

"Thanks, Coco," Tiella said while flipping her off, to which Coco returned the gesture before crossing her arms.

"So, who won?" Coco asked.

"Dunno, I passed out after I broke my hand hitting Glynda's barrier," Tiella said, casually lifting her cast-encased hand up.

Coco whistled, clearly impressed. "Well, I'll be," She said, placing a hand on her hip while lowering her shades to peer over them at Tiella.

"Never seen a broken hand before?"

"That's what you get for fingering yourself too much."

"Hey, if it gets me off, then I've got no complaints."

"Doesn't Professor Goodwitch give you a _hand?_ "

Tiella smiled wryly at Coco's words, looking to the side through the corner of her eyes. Bad choice, because Coco didn't need an answer the moment she saw Tiella's expression.

"Oh my god," Coco said, dubious of the tall girl's reaction. She eyed Tiella's expression for a moment longer before she cocked her head sideways with a smug grin plastered across her face. "Looks like I was right again, Chelly."

Tiella raised a confused brow at Coco's words. "About what?"

Coco leaned closer, her cocky half-smile irking Tiella more than she'd like to admit. "About the lingerie."

"Fuck off." Tiella immediately blushed as she groaned.

As soon as Coco said the words, she had a pillow thrown right at her face, though that still wasn't enough to remove the smug, shit-eating grin from her face. She picked up the pillow and casually threw it back at Tiella wordlessly. Tiella caught it easily and placed it behind her for her to lean on as she sat back on the bed's header.

"Well," Coco sat on a chair beside Tiella's bed. "jokes aside, you've really, _really_ done it this time, Chelly."

Again with the dubious brow, Tiella asked. "What'd I do this time?"

"Did you really fight in that spar without Aura?"

"These bandages and the cast not good enough for you? I look like I got fucked by a truck."

"A _train_ , more like."

"Whatever."

"Yeah," Coco grinned again, fetching her scroll out of her bag. "It's just that it gets hard to believe as soon as you watch the 2nd half of the match."

Coco showed Tiella a recording of her match against Lilly, taken from the seats in the combat class. Judging by the distance and angle, it seemed like it was from the middle row. There she saw Lilly smash her heel on the arena's floor with a heavy ax kick, causing a cloud of dust to erupt, hiding them temporarily.

"Particularly this one here," Coco said as she skipped to the part where Tiella was causing weird booms in the air with her punches despite the complete lack of any loose enough clothing like a long sleeve to rip through the air as she moved. "And especially this one here." Coco skipped again, to the part where one second, Lilly was standing around half a dozen feet or so away from Tiella only to appear beside her with a crater beneath her feet and Tiella already flying away from what seemed like a punch even before the video changed timestamps by the seconds.

Tiella scratched the back of her head with pursed lips before plopping back on her pillow. "Nothing I can do about that."

"Hmm, you're gonna tell me how you two did what you did, but it doesn't have to be now, I guess." Coco nodded nonplussed. "Because real or not, the video's already trending within the school especially with how Professor Goodwitch started the match by declaring that you both were duking it out without Aura. I wouldn't be surprised to see it spread outside of campus and into the internet for all to see."

"Making a big deal out of this, aren't you?"

"Because it is," Coco said flatly. "Velvs, back me up here."

Still looking away, Velvet glanced from the corner of her eyes with a blush already on her face. She walked a little closer but avoided eyes with Tiella as she explained. "There's a lot of talk about it already and there's bound to be way more due to the nature of the fight. A lot of people will find it a hoax or some sort of publicity stunt, but to those that do believe that it's real, or rather, a small population of those who do will think of ways to replicate such skills for various reasons."

"Like?"

"Like, say, to see whether it was true or not in the first place would be the main reason." Velvet listed off. "But I think the most ground-breaking thing about it is the idea that, if Huntsmen and Huntresses without Aura could fight like that, how would they fare against the Grimm threat when given Aura?"

Velvet finally managed to look Tiella in the eyes as the blush on her face disappeared when the topic took to a more serious tone.

"That idea alone could drastically alter how Huntsmen and Huntresses are nurtured and trained. I mean," Velvet paused, pulling her right arm's sleeve up to reveal toned, lithe, and lean muscles—that was a little like Tiella's—underneath her school's uniform. "after two weeks of following your style of training and exercising, I found myself making leaps and bounds with my physical capabilities. My strength and speed rose significantly, and I don't tire out as easily as before."

Velvet lowered her arm and carried on. "Without Aura, I could run 3 laps around the school before I start gasping for air like how we usually would in the mornings. _With_ Aura, I could do 10. And before I started doing so, 3 laps _jogging_ around campus was already too much as stamina training for me. I used to do one lap to jog around before I took a short break and moved into the gym."

Coco chimed in again while adjusting her shades. "And because of that, we, as a team, adopted the same training into our own. Our grades in Combat Class shot up because of it, so our friends and classmates from other teams asked us about it, too. Obviously, we told them the same thing, so this form of training was already spreading a few days ago at the latest." She looked to her two male teammates, getting their attention with a raised brow. "Isn't that right, boys?"

"Truly." Yatsuhashi easily nodded along with Fox's silent agreement. "My build has started to become even more toned and lean, and oddly enough for me, I'd started to lose a bit of weight."

"I gained some, though," Fox interjected. "Probably because I was already slim so the increase in muscle mass added weight for me instead, if only barely."

"Well, that's only natural," Tiella finally spoke up. "If I had to make a guess, it'd be because when you do your thing without Aura, your body does all the work for you. None of that helping hand our Auras constantly give. Add to that the fact that when you do recover your Aura after working your muscles until they scream, the torn muscles take even less time to heal and patch up, so the process of gaining muscle probably speeds up like you're taking steroids or something."

"Which would explain the explosive rate at which we improve and gain." Velvet guessed, continuing Tiella's train of thought.

"There's also the fact that there's this thing we call Newbie Gains," Tiella added.

"The rapid increase in muscle mass that happens to people with no prior weightlifting experience when they begin lifting weights, of course!" Velvet added enthusiastically.

" _Exactly._ " Tiella nodded. "So ride the Newbie Gains as far as you can, because when you get to my level, it becomes hard even to just maintain it all. Gotta watch your diet, gotta make sure your training's _intense as fuck_ if you wanna keep a certain type of build, among other things."

Team CFVY took her words intently, Velvet nodding at every word as she tried to keep all that she was learning to long term memory.

"But the most important part of trying to get to _this_ ," Tiella said, gesturing her arms open as if to present herself. "is the _motivation_."

Her words struck true to them. Finding the motivation to carry on despite the pain was certainly not easy as they've all experienced firsthand.

"Motivating yourself once isn't enough— _it just won't fucking cut it_. You gotta remind yourself every damn time what your goal is or else your cheat day will come 4 days earlier than intended," She said jokingly, earning a few wry smiles from Team CFVY. "It's true, and it's a normal thing to slip up like that especially when all you're striving for is something casual or superficial like _looking good_ or staying _healthy enough_."

She paused for a bit, smiling at her four listeners. She was a little glad that they were taking her seriously, she doesn't usually talk that much after all.

"Cheat days are important, by the way, because in case you didn't know, cheat days make sure your body gets its needed dose of happy chemicals to make sure you're motivated enough to keep yourself going. Even if your mind says you wanna but your body doesn't feel like it, then looking at your favorite Huntsman might not be enough one day."

"Really?" Coco asked.

"Really," Tiella said flatly, nodding her head.

Coco clicked her tongue. "Shit, I've been skipping out on my desserts because I have a figure I wanna keep. Velvs, I want ice cream later."

"Okay." Velvet smiled.

"Right," Tiella drawled, eyeing each member a passing glance before resting her gaze at Coco. "So, what do you guys think?"

"Of?"

"The match." Tiella shrugged. "Glynda said it'd be educational to you guys, I think she's exaggerating."

"May I remind you that people don't fight like that without Aura? And even if they used their Semblance, it wouldn't fare well after for various reasons."

"Like?"

"If I used Mimicry without Aura like I normally do could end up with me doing something my body can't handle," Velvet chimed in. "and you've seen how that ended, only the effects could be much worse."

"Ah, yeah. True."

"Anyway," Coco interjected. "What do _you_ think Velvs? Thoughts on the match?"

"I think it was educational and fascinating, especially the girl you were fighting with. I was certainly surprised that someone could go toe to toe with you even when blindfolded," Velvet said in no hidden admiration but tilted her head cutely after a moment while voicing her thoughts. "Why was she blindfolded?"

"Because she's blind."

"But wasn't she the same girl that was stopping that hunk of muscle this morning in front of the cafeteria? She didn't look like she was blind back there." Coco asked incredulously.

"It's a little complicated," Tiella said with a hand to her chin and her gaze cast down to the side—contemplating whether to tell the truth or not. "Fuck it, I'll tell you about it but not today. It's too long and too complicated—all in all, a pain in the ass to explain. Maybe we could do it over a drink so I won't get bored at least."

"Okay, I'm down for that." Coco easily agreed. "What about you, Velvs? You up? You down?"

"We're still minors for another year, Coco."

" _A few months_ , you mean."

"Well..."

"Come on, I'll be lonely without you there." Coco smiled pleadingly.

Velvet looked back at Coco rather hesitantly, a little reluctant to agree. "Coco, it's just a few more months, we can go but not to drink liquor."

Coco smiled wryly at Velvet—she already knew Velvet would be against it, she just liked seeing her reaction to it. She sighed playfully and gave Tiella a look. "There you have it. No drinks for us."

Tiella looked between the two in amusement. She always thought it was Coco leading the relationship between the two of them—it looked like Velvet had her properly under control after all. "More for me, then." She shrugged. "Pretty sure I can get Lilly to join me if no one else does at least."

"Lilly?" Coco wondered.

Tiella wordlessly pointed with her lips at the bed across hers. Team CFVY was confused for a bit as they followed where Tiella was pointing at and there they saw Lilly soundly sleeping, her breath following a nice and steady rhythm.

"Is she the blind girl you fought?"

"The one and only."

"She looks like she had an airship crash on her."

"She'll be fine."

"What the hell kind of spar did you have?"

"I thought you watched the video already?"

"Yeah, but I didn't expect this kind of aftermath to it!"

"Calm down, you're gonna wake her up."

"Yeah, sure, easy-peasy," Coco whispered harshly. "Let me just forget how you two _fucked up_ the arena when you're both _without Aura,_ " She said, earning a light slap on her elbow from Velvet.

"Coco, don't swear." Velvet scolded.

"Sorry, Velvs, but aren't you, I dunno, _baffled_ or _something?_ " Coco asked while Tiella shook her head wryly at the act, reminding her too much of what she was just going through a couple of minutes ago.

"I am," Velvet said, placing a placating hand on Coco's arm. "but Tiella said we can talk about it sometime later when she's better."

"Listen to your bunny-wife, Choco."

Coco gave Tiella an irked brow. "2 weeks in and you finally find a nickname for me but of all the things, you give me my mother's name."

"How the _hell_ should I know it was your mother's name?" Tiella bit back with furrowed brows and a scowl.

"Because, _syke_ , girl!" Coco shot Tiella finger guns and a wink, earning a middle finger from Tiella. "I like the name, by the way—not _too_ original but no one's given me a nickname since Velvs called me ' _Coco-latte_ ' during a sugar high from drinking too many soft drinks and sweets at last year's dance night."

" _Coco!_ "

"She was so frickin' adorable that night," Coco reminisced fondly. "That was the most energetic she got outside of anything weapons and combat-related."

Tiella stifled a giggle with the back of her hand but winced and gasped after a couple. She clicked her tongue and peeked through the bandages on her flank, finding a purple coloration indicative of a bruise. She cocked her head in annoyance at the sight, covering her bruise again with the bandages.

While still looking at her flank, she idly commented to no one in particular. "Gonna be sore in the morning."

"That looks like it's gonna suck."

"No, but it'll hurt like a bitch—Lilly hits like a truck even though she's smaller than me."

They gave the sleeping girl a quick glance before returning to Tiella. "Wouldn't wanna get on your bad sides."

"Yeah, well—" Tiella was in the middle of speaking when they heard a knock on the door.

Curious, they turned to see a group of boys by the door. Since Tiella couldn't move from her bed, the best she could do was lean forward, which was a bad fucking idea with how she squished her fractured ribs, making her cringe back to her bed in pain. " _Fuck!_ "

The sudden cuss called back CFVY's attention.

"Girl, seriously, just lie down and don't move. You look like you're gonna need 3 whole days of bedridden Aura recovery before you get completely healed up. But anyway, it looks like you have some guests." Coco said, looking back at the direction of the door momentarily. "So we'll leave, for now, Chelly. Wouldn't wanna crowd around you." Coco waved while walking away as the rest followed with bids of farewell. "Take care."

From the bed, she waved back and heard a few whispered words that sounded along the lines of ' _do anything stupid and you're dead, you hear me?_ '. After a moment, Tiella finally saw who her new visitors were and was quite surprised to see a group of familiar faces—she knew them and they knew her to be sure, but she never expected a visit from them.

With an amused half-smile, Tiella saluted to a wave. "How goes it, Cardin?"

* * *

"Velvs, we're out of the room now."

"Nn."

"So?"

"No."

"Please? You gotta tell me why you were so against going into the infirmary a while ago—it's gonna keep bugging me!"

Team CFVY walked the halls and courtyard of Beacon towards their dormitory and as soon as Coco asked why, Velvet blushed up a storm until even her ears had grown quite red at the tips. Velvet hid her face from view with her hands and ears while she carefully looked down and ahead of her as they walked. She peeked between her fingers with pursed lips. Velvet looked as if she was deliberating whether to tell Coco or not, and after a moment of hesitation, she quickly and dismissively answered.

" _I can't!_ "

Coco crossed her arms and pouted, a little disappointed that Velvet wouldn't tell her even a hint. She sighed and grabbed Velvet by the waist to pull her closer. "Well, if you won't tell me, you're buying ice cream for all of us," She said sulkily. "We're going to Vale."

"Okay." Velvet demurely nodded after feeling a little guilty but she _simply cannot_ tell Coco or anyone else.

 _"I can't tell them what I heard!"_

Reminded once again of what she'd picked up, she imagined raunchy scenarios that shouldn't be done within the school grounds, especially by the staff members of the school itself.

* * *

"How goes it, Cardin?" Tiella paused, taking a glance at Cardin's teammates standing timidly behind him. "And the three stooges."

Cardin managed to stop a chuckle before it escaped his mouth while the three boys simply glared at him and then Tiella. Tiella grinned, glad to see that there wasn't any actual animosity between them.

"We saw your match," Cardin said after clearing his throat.

"Good, because you should've been in class when it happened."

"You know what I mean." Cardin bit back.

"Yeah, yeah." Tiella shrugged. She gestured around her as she spoke to the boys. "Take a seat, I got a feeling we're gonna have a nice little talk."

The rest obliged, Cardin taking the seat Coco used earlier while the others sat on the bed next to Tiella's.

"Right, so, let's talk but not too loudly, or else." Tiella paused, pointing to the bed across hers with her open palm.

CRDL looked to where she pointed and found the same person every else had been seeing—a soundly sleeping Lilly. She looked even more banged up than Tiella did but she was still soundly sleeping. They wore wry expressions as soon as they saw the girl.

Cardin looked impressed, there was a slight discomfort to seeing someone so injured after what was supposedly a normal spar minus Aura in the usual Combat Class he'd always attended, but impressed nonetheless.

Russel actually looked worried for a second until he put up an unimpressed front.

Dove didn't hide his worry with a wry brow raised and his mouth opening slightly as if to voice a question.

Sky just looked perplexed at how in the world that resulted from a spar with no Aura _or_ weapons included.

Seeing the boys' expressions, Tiella let out a lighthearted sigh, calling the boys' attention back to her. "She'll be fine—she'd been in worse states. Probably bedridden for a few days, but fine, still."

"How can you call that fine?" Sky asked in complete amazement at Lilly's current state and Tiella's nonchalance about it. "She looks like she got mauled by Ursas and Boarbatusks."

"I just told you," Tiella said flatly. "She's sleeping more because she's mentally exhausted, I've seen her stay awake long after a bullet went through her chest just a couple inches above her heart alongside bleeding heavily from other holes, she's gonna be fine." She waved dismissively. "You could even say she's sturdier than me."

"And you still managed to bring her down this much." Cardin chimed, not bothering to hide how impressed he'd been all this time.

"Being sturdy is nice and all, but it doesn't matter if you take too much of a beating." Tiella grinned, pointing to Cardin casually. "You should know what I'm talking about firsthand."

Cardin cocked his head with pursed lips, nodding in agreement begrudgingly. He didn't like being reminded of his failures but after the recent events that followed after Tiella appeared in Beacon, he'd become a little more open-minded when it came to a few things. One of said few things was that he wasn't as hot shit as he thought he was after enrolling at one of the most prestigious Huntsman Academies in the world.

He gave his boys a passing glance each, reaffirming his decision with them. They all returned the gesture, nodding to each other albeit some of them did it almost unwillingly.

Cardin looked back to Tiella who'd been eyeing them with a little bit of suspicion. "We have a request."

Curious, Tiella raised a brow and silently nodded for Cardin to continue.

"Please," Cardin said, bowing his head with his hands placed squarely on top of his knees. "take us in."

Unable to keep her surprise in, Tiella looked at Cardin with wide eyes and pursed lips. She gave the rest of his team the same wide-eyed incredulous look and found them doing the same as well.

Baffled.

Tiella looked back at Cardin once again, noticing a slight trembling in his hands as he gripped his knees. She looked towards Russel, Dove, and Sky once more, finding them steadily keeping their heads down. She was wondering what led to the sudden change of heart but was taken away from her thoughts when Dove spoke up.

"We're really sorry for our attempt on you back in the Forever Fall forest," Dove said without raising his head.

Sky added. "Cardin talked things over with us and we nearly had a falling out in the past weeks."

"I even suggested we speak to Professor Goodwitch about breaking up the team," Russel interjected.

"But we," Cardin paused, taking his time to choose the right words in his mind. After a moment, Cardin raised his voice just slightly, and yet it carried just enough of his conviction with it. "We want to be Huntsmen too."

Speechless.

Tiella couldn't think of anything to say.

The only thing that went through her mind was ' _how in the world did this happen?_ ' and ' _why me?_ '.

While lost in her musings, Cardin carried on.

"Of all the people I met, you're the only person that actually gave me the time of day to _actually_ talk to me. Like, an actual conversation with _me_. It was actually nice, I felt like I was being spoken to as an equal." Cardin said with a bit of a self-deprecating tone to his words. "So, I want these guys to see what was up—to let them know ' _why the change, man?_ '."

Cardin paused again for a slight moment before continuing. "I don't think I've fully convinced them, but I want to start acting like a proper leader." He bowed his head even lower while maintaining his pose. "And this is my first step to it."

The boys didn't see it but Tiella had a soft look to her eyes as she listened to them. She chuckled, wearing a grin across her face like she often does. "Raise your heads."

Each did as told, and while everyone wore slightly different expressions, each one wore a little bit of anxiousness in their eyes.

"I was gonna joke about taking you into the police when you first spoke," Tiella teased, earning wry looks from the boys. "But then you do this _sap-fest_ in front of me so now I'm not in the mood to fuck around anymore." She lightly shook her head with an amused smile.

Team CRDL shared confused looks with one another, though the anxious looks in their eyes remained.

Tiella crossed her arms in front of her but winced a little, so she put them beside her instead. "So you want to be my students," She said, putting up a front even though she wanted to cry a little from the pain she kept inflicting on herself.

Cardin found Tiella staring into his eyes, and once again, he felt a little happy that, even after acting like a _fucking douche_ , someone was still willing to look him in the eye as they spoke.

"Yes." He nodded resolutely.

Tiella cleared her throat, looked away, and scratched the back of her head with a slightly embarrassed expression on her face.

"Feels like you're putting me on a pedestal or something—I'm just another bully, only difference is I'm a better bully than you three combined."

"Sure you are." Cardin grinned wryly.

"And you're fine with that?" Tiella asked. "You're fine with being under the Professional Bully?"

"It's you or no one," He replied. "Besides, Team RWBY's under your wing too but I don't see them turning into assholes like me."

"That's because I'm doing the bullying to them." Tiella shrugged with a rather proud grin.

There was a moment of silent contemplation for Tiella and it was a little nerve-wracking for Cardin and his team as they waited. Tiella had a hand to her chin as she thought but after a short moment, she scratched her cheek, sighed in fake exasperation, and smiled.

"Alright, I'll take you in."

There was a collective sigh of relief that followed her words, and despite Russel and Sky being a bit skeptical with Cardin's decision, they were willing to play along. After all, if their leader, who was the worst of them all, found someone worth respecting, then they probably _should_ pause and think about what was so special about the girl other than being tall and good at fighting.

"No backing out once you're in."

"We don't plan to, anyway," Cardin said, giving his team a look. "Isn't that right, boys?"

"Yeah," Dove answered.

"Yeah, yeah," Russel replied.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Sky said rather sarcastically.

Tiella grinned wide and it was the grin that broadcasted to everyone that she was up to something again—her shit-eating grin.

"You'll see."

The boys felt a chill run down their spine as soon as they heard her words—already worried for their lives, and more importantly, their dignities even before they could begin.

Tiella extended her unhurt fist towards Cardin while looking him square in his eyes. Cardin looked at her fist for a moment before he smiled and did the same—bumping his fist with hers.

Tiella wore a proud grin, glad that he finally returned the gesture.

* * *

After Team CRDL's unexpected but not unwelcome visit, Tiella spent the rest of her day bored on her bed. She'd sleep, but whenever she got too comfortable and shifted in place, she'd wince in pain from just about damn near every part of her body. She idly wondered how Lilly could sleep despite being worse for wear. Though, after a few tries, she finally managed to find a position to sleep in that was comfortable enough in an uncomfortable situation.

Some hours passed and Tiella woke up just as the Sun was going down, the soft light of dusk peering through the window of the infirmary. She sat upright groggily, rubbing her eyes with her hand to rouse herself awake. She yawned and stretched, feeling a bit of strain from her midsection where Lilly kicked her twice and was pleasantly surprised to find that she wasn't hurting as badly anymore. She copped her sides for a feel and only felt slight discomfort—tapping them lightly to test the waters.

Nodding to herself in approval, she copped the side of her head for a feel, finding that the swelling on the right side of her face had shrunk significantly. Her face still hurt but it was far more manageable compared to before.

Next, she gave her forearms a few good taps each, noting the slight pain and not much else. Content with her current state, she checked her biggest injury—her broken left hand. She tried clenching her fist but as soon as she did, she winced again. Concluding that she'd have to make do with her right hand until her dominant hand healed, she tried standing up.

As soon as she hit the ground with her bare feet, she flinched again from equal parts coldness and pain. After reflexively raising her feet off the ground, she gently placed them back, toes first. She bounced her legs up and down to check for anything wrong. Finding nothing, she slowly stood up, and the first thing she felt was a stinging pain on her thighs and calves.

She took a sharp breath in, slowly releasing it to relax.

 _"That's what I get for going nuts on the Flicker Arts."_

She let out a small chuckle, shaking her head at the memory of a certain person.

 _"Karen would simultaneously be proud and pissed at what I'd achieved today."_

Tiella walked to the window to peek outside, though her mind floated elsewhere.

 _"I wonder how she's doing. Damn it, I wasn't too worried because I knew those two were with her when I first came here, but now she's alone."_

She spent the next half hour just standing by the window, looking out. Once she'd realized she'd done nothing but stand idle, she scratched her head and turned on her heel to pick up and wear her things—she'd been stripped of her sparring clothes after all. She'd guessed that it was Glynda who helped her out of her sparring gear and into her casual clothes even if it was only her shirt and pants.

As soon as she was done, she looked to the clock and found that it was already 6:16 pm.

 _"First order of business,"_ She thought, giving Lilly a look. _"Get Bardy to stay with Lilly for the night."_

She hurried over to where she guessed Bardy would be at first, which was the gym. After finding no sign of him there, she headed straight for her old room, which was Room 312 at the West Wing Dormitory. As soon as she arrived, she twisted the knob, foregoing knocking like she always did. She spared the room a glance and didn't find Bardy immediately. She did, however, notice the light in the bathroom on.

"Bardy," Tiella called, stepping into the room and leaning on the wall next to the bathroom door. There, she heard the sound of water running.

"Is Lilly up?" A muffled voice responded.

"Nope."

"Thought so."

"Yeah," Tiella got off the wall and walked back to the door. "I'm going back to my apartment."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be with Lilly soon as I'm done here."

"Alright." And Tiella exited the room, shutting the door gently behind her.

As Tiella walked the courtyard when there was barely any light from the sun shining over it, she found quite a number of curious glances aimed at her.

 _"Have they never seen a girl in bandages before? Christ, the people here are sheltered as fuck or something."_

Despite her thoughts, the truth was a little bit more than that.

It was true that she was certainly eye-catching with how she was walking up and about in bandages from head to toe.

It was also true that she looked rather provocatively if you ignored the fact that she looked intimidating with her stoic gaze and large number of obvious injuries. Her shirt was unbuttoned all the way down, so the only thing stopping people from looking at her bare chest was the bandages. She was also walking barefoot because when she bent down to wear her socks and boots, she winced in pain as soon as she squished her ribs again.

So she ended up carrying her boots with her free hand along with the rest of her clothes that she couldn't wear by herself.

Another factor to the reason people were eyeing her left and right was the fact that the video of her match with Lilly had already spread to nearly every student and staff member of the school.

 _"Was that true?"_

 _"Was it just a stunt?"_

 _"Was it fake?"_

 _"Is that the result of training without Aura?"_

 _"So that's why she's staff instead of a student despite being just the right age for a Beacon student."_

 _"Who was that blindfolded girl?"_

 _"Damn, she's hot."_

 _"The blindfolded girl's hotter."_

 _"If I do that every day like she does, will I be able to achieve it too?"_

 _"What if they did that when they had Aura up?"_

 _"What I'd do to run my tongue on those shredded abs, oh my fucking god."_

Questions like so flooded the minds of those who were curious as well as those who only held a passing interest on the matter.

And the girl in question—while utterly ignorant to such thoughts mulling about, turning ripples into waves within the school—nonchalantly made her way back to her apartment.

She twisted the knob and luckily found that it was unlocked. She stepped in and quickly her appetite was stimulated.

"Tiella? Are you home already?" Glynda called from the kitchen.

 _"Home."_

Tiella felt butterflies in her stomach when she heard the word and so, couldn't keep a smile from her face.

"Yeah, I'm home."

"Just in time, then. I'm almost done preparing dinner."

"Got anything for me to do?"

As Tiella walked towards the dining room, she almost bumped into Glynda who was about to peek at her from the kitchen.

"Oh!"

"Whoah!"

Glynda fixed her glasses while Tiella took a few steps back to make room between them. They both smiled wryly at each other.

"Sorry about that."

"No, it was my fault, I wasn't looking."

"I don't think you can peek through walls unless that's your Semblance, Glynda."

"Well..." Glynda thought for a bit before she turned on her heel and returned to her cooking. "It's nothing."

Curious, Tiella took a seat on her usual seat on the dining table but was quickly called out by Glynda.

"If you can move well enough for a bath, then please take one. You reek of sweat."

Tiella sniffed herself and shrugged, agreeing that she did stink of sweat. As she stood to head for the bath, however, she remembered something that made her wear an angry smile, one that was aimed at Glynda.

" _Mistress, dear?_ "

Catching Tiella's tone of voice, Glynda stiffened in place, a faint blush apparent on her rosy cheeks.

Slowly, Glynda turned. "Yes, Tiella?" And there she saw the look Tiella was giving.

One that was equal parts mischievous and ravenous.

Seeing the look, Glynda looked between their dinner and Tiella nervously, swallowing a lump in her throat as she mentally prepared herself for whatever it was that Tiella would do to her.

Wordlessly, Tiella strode over to Glynda and carried her over her shoulder unceremoniously with her right arm like a sack of potatoes.

"T-Tiella!? What do you think you're doing!?"

Ignoring her words, Tiella carried Glynda straight into the bathroom.

"I-I'm still cooking!" Glynda reasoned, hurriedly dropping everything she'd been using to cook on an empty bowl with her Telekinesis.

Tiella shut the door behind them and locked it before sitting Glynda down the toilet.

"T-Tiella?"

Tiella eyed Glynda with a lighthearted angry gleam in her eyes and smile. She ignored Glynda's words again and quickly stripped her clothes off while never taking her eyes off Glynda.

Glynda, meanwhile, covered her face with her hands, though she couldn't help but watch through her fingers Tiella stripping in front of her.

"We're gonna take a _bath_ , Glynda," Tiella finally spoke as soon as she'd taken all her bandages off. "And you're gonna help me with it."

"W-Well, I'm fine with helping but are you su—"

Tiella shut Glynda's words up with a kiss as soon as she grabbed her shoulder.

"Sorry, Glynda, I think I forgot how to prepare a _hot_ bath."

Flustered, Glynda could only look back at Tiella's cheeky eyes and rose-colored face as she gave her a lustful grin.

"T-The shower has a..." Glynda tried to reason, though even she felt that what she was saying wouldn't stop Tiella.

Tiella dived in for another kiss, shutting Glynda's lips with her own. She helped Glynda stand up as they kissed, slowly and carefully walking themselves towards the shower where she pushed Glynda onto the wall, never letting up on her assault.

"Why don't you..." Tiella said breathily, tracing her finger on Glynda's cheek. "...help me make this shower _hotter?_ "

Glynda felt heat build up in her cheeks as well as at a certain point _down there_. She never realized when, but her arms were already wrapped around Tiella's waist pulling her closer. She kissed back, locking her lips, growing passionate after every second as Tiella slowly stripped her of her clothes and undoing her hair.

They pulled themselves apart after the need to breathe, and while gasping, Glynda spoke again. "Are you mad?"

Tiella's grin became wider before she started kissing Glynda's neck and shoulders while running her hand through Glynda's hair. Through each kiss, Glynda moaned and bit her lip.

"You nearly gave me what is equivalent to female blue balls," Tiella said in her sultry voice. "while I was heavily injured."

"I-... mmm...!" Glynda bit back a moan as she clutched Tiella's hair, feeling Tiella's nibbling and sucking on her left breast. "I-I'm _sorry—ah!_ "

"You better be next to me when I wake up tomorrow."

Glynda steadied her breath as she looked back at Tiella, noting the small change in her tone. Within a pair of sharp gold, one of which was hidden behind disheveled red fringes, she found lust and yearning aimed at her. She would've found it sexy if it weren't for the sulking tone and the small pout on her lips, which made her appear cute instead.

Glynda let out a soft laugh, cupping Tiella's cheeks with her hands to give her a small peck on the nose.

"Everyday if you want it so."

Tiella grinned as she kissed Glynda back in the same manner for a few times until her kisses turned rather racy—going from Glynda's nose and lips to anywhere else she found was worth kissing—eliciting moans of delight from her lover.

While she rained Glynda down in kisses and hickeys all over her body, she copped the wall behind Glynda for a feel until she felt a faucet. She turned it immediately, shocking Glynda into letting out a high pitched yelp as cold water rained on them from the shower head.

"That's _cold!_ "

"Sorry! Looks like I actually forgot, huh?"

They both laughed as they paused what they were doing. Glynda turned to hold Tiella's hand over the faucet so that she could turn it the other way, letting the hot water rain down on them, but immediately turned dialed it back to the cold setting.

"That's how you make this shower hot, okay? Besides, you shouldn't be taking hot baths when you have fresh bruises."

"Well, that's fine." Tiella grinned, planting another kiss at Glynda's neck. "Because it was already hot even before we came in here, anyway."

Glynda kissed back before pulling Tiella for a hug as they showered together. "You always have a way with words."

"I think have more than just words I have a few ways with," Tiella said, pulling her head away to stare into Glynda's emeralds.

Glynda laughed again as she cupped Tiella's cheeks, touching her forehead with hers. Tiella, without looking, kicked Glynda's wet clothes out the shower and into the bathroom floor on the toilet's side.

"I really do love you," Tiella said.

Glynda pouted a little, though her smile didn't fade away. "You're always the first to say it."

"I don't think it's a competition." Tiella shrugged. "I just wanna let you know."

Glynda kissed Tiella for a short moment before resting her arms over Tiella's shoulders. "And you've never failed to do so whenever we're together."

Tiella giggled, content with simply embracing Glynda for the moment. Glynda touched her forehead with Tiella's again, feeling that their time together was just idyllic.

"I love you too."

They swayed to the rhythm of a tune only they could hear despite the sound of rain.

Gently, softly, slowly.

They held each other's hand while they revelled in each other's warmth under the shower.

Content with nothing else but the need to spend more time with the other.

Until it was broken by the sound of Tiella's stomach grumbling.

"Tiella...?" Glynda said as she laughed, a wry smile already on her face.

Embarrassedly, Tiella smiled, coy and demure. She slowly looked to the side as her smile wavered until her face was hidden behind her hands.

"I'm sorry for ruining the moment."

Glynda let out another laugh, finding her calm, cool, and sarcastic girlfriend absolutely adorable at the moment.

"I think it's perfect."

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Exciting stuff!_

 _Ask and you shall receive._


	28. Chapter 28

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I have an important announcement!_

 _A dear friend of mine drew Tiella for me and she's up on my twitter: notweissschnee_

 _The artist's name is MonokhromaticQ on Twitter as well._

 _She's drawn in her casual clothes so it's nothing too fancy, but I really love how it turned out. Simple is best after all!_

 _If you're curious, do give it a look, thanks!_

* * *

Yang, Weiss, and Blake were on their way to the gym to continue their morning routine after taking a short break from their sprint around the campus.

"Oh yeah!" Yang perked, gaining the attention of her friends as well as a few passersby.

"Yes, Yang?" Blake queried while Weiss simply gave Yang a look.

"Did you hear about the news yesterday?"

"About?" Blake prodded further, an idea already forming in her mind, though her attention was slightly taken elsewhere when she heard a distant muffled sound of metal clunking heavily.

Yang leaned her grinning face closer to Blake's while covering her mouth from the side with the back of her hand, lowering her voice to a soft whisper. "News about the port from last Sunday."

Blake stiffened a bit at the news but quickly released a sigh, recalling hearing about the news the morning after. Weiss raised a brow, wondering what the news was until she remembered, nodding her head at Yang.

"They said," Weiss spoke. "that the White Fang's attempt at the docks was partially stopped by a huntress from Beacon. No name or picture was released but the VPD released a description of the huntress to the media."

"A tall red-haired huntress from Beacon, was it?" Blake smiled wryly, shaking her head slightly.

She didn't know what to feel about the news.

On one hand, she was happy that everyone, especially her, was able to keep their anonymity intact except for that small bit about the tall red-haired huntress. On the other, she was miffed that the White Fang did something to paint themselves in further bad light.

"Looks like she's building up a reputation even outside the school, huh?" Yang said with her hands behind her head.

"It's not like there's anyone better to take the credit for it without sounding suspicious anyway," Blake commented.

"True," Weiss agreed.

They were quiet for a bit as they walked the halls leisurely towards their destination until the silence was broken due to Yang's chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Blake asked.

"Nothing, really. Just a dumb thought." Yang smiled. "I just thought it would've been funny if they released a photo of Celeste all angry-looking and labeling her as a mercenary instead of a huntress," She said, recalling the night she and Weiss met up with them.

Blake lightly elbowed Yang, giving her a stern look. "You shouldn't say anything about _that_ so easily, Yang. Lots of us have sensitive hearing here." She whispered.

"Right, right, sorry." Yang smiled apologetically.

And again, Blake's attention was taken away by the sound of metal clunking heavily—and with nothing to focus on other than the sound, she realized that it was coming from the gym and that there was also the sound of chains to it too—before her attention was returned to her friends when Weiss spoke up.

"I wonder how Tiella is right now."

Yang thought for a bit with her tongue sticking out. "Probably can't get up from bed."

"I agree." Blake chimed.

"And I suppose Lilly wouldn't be faring any better—not by a long shot," Weiss added.

She recalled how Lilly pushed Tiella back further than anyone else had seen despite having no vision to help. The spectacle of their 'spar', if you could even call it that, was deeply ingrained in her memory and she'd reckon that the same could be said for Blake and Yang.

Remembering the match strangely fills her with so much inspiration and motivation to do more. She fancied the idea that, in time, she would also be able to pull off at least half the stunts, only it would be translated into her fencing. She firmly believed that their fighting styles aren't all that different despite Tiella believing otherwise.

Tiella's movements may seem rough, savage, and some might even say brutal, but to her—especially after learning about Tiella's techniques from Pyrrha's explanations a few weeks back—it was oddly alluring.

She remembered Tiella saying that her fighting style was similar to Yang's but she felt that it couldn't be any further from the truth.

 _"Her style heavily relies on skill and technique, not just brawn."_

That wasn't to say that Yang only knew to hit people until they stayed down, she has her own set of skills and techniques that she developed over the years, and to be sure, it was a spectacle to see someone sent flying after she charges up her Semblance, but comparing it to Tiella's, it just seemed...

 _"Pedestrian."_

She realized that it was a rather rude thought, so she wisely kept to herself.

Nonetheless, she firmly believed that she stood to learn a lot from observing Tiella's style and finding ways to incorporate it to her fencing seeing that it was also a style that heavily relies on skill and technique. Even more so when she included her Glyphs into it.

 _"It's a style that focuses on quick and heavy counters. And by counters, she actually attacks_ _ **while**_ _her enemy is in the middle of attacking, it isn't just waiting until her enemy takes a break from their attack. It's bold and risky but the payoffs speak for themselves_ _, a testament to her experience and skill as an in-fighter_ _."_

As Weiss stirred in her thoughts, she was brought back when she heard the sound of heavy metal clunking together and it was there that she realized that they've already reached the gym.

"What's that noise?" Yang wondered, glancing around the gym to look for the source.

"That." Blake pointed.

Yang gave Blake a look and found herself surprised when she saw Blake's wide-eyed look. She looked towards the direction Blake was pointing at and couldn't help her eyes widening just as well as the clunking repeated rhythmically. Weiss simply paused in her steps as she stared blankly at the sight.

"One, two, three..." Yang softly counted, eyes squinted in disbelief. " _Ten_ bumper plates chained together!? Those things look like they weigh 10 kilos each!"

Indeed.

Ten bumper plates were tied together on thick and sturdy chains, wrapped and hanging from the shoulders and waist of a certain black-haired muscular boy ( _man_ ) while he hung himself on a pull-up bar before levering his body to become parallel to the floor—mindful to keep his body completely straight all throughout the motion. One could see his core and back muscles pop up with so much tension that his veins appeared prominent. Sweat dripped and pooled below him, an indication of the immense strain he was making himself go through with such a focused expression on his flushed face.

Yang couldn't help but take a breath in to let out an impressed sigh. She held a hand over her mouth as she went into thought, imagining herself doing the same thing.

 _"I don't think I can do that even_ _ **with**_ _Aura. Is he using his Essen-something? Essentia?"_

She wanted to come over and strike up a conversation with him but she didn't want to interrupt. Luckily for her, he just dropped down with a heavy thud and the noise of clunking metal reverberating throughout the gym, catching nearly everyone's attention.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," Yang said.

"Why?" Blake wondered.

"Because," Yang walked forward. "I wanna know if he's doing that with his Essentia or not."

Blake and Weiss shared a look with each other before they shrugged and followed suit.

"Heeey, Bardy!" Yang waved cheerily.

Bardel brushed his hair up in an attempt to wipe the sweat off his forehead. He turned to the direction of the voice, giving Yang a neutral expression. He saw her waving at him, so, curiously, he raised a brow to respond.

With Yang now standing next to him, she voiced her question.

"Did you do that with your Essentia?"

Bardel raised another brow at the question, giving Yang a weird look. "No, that'd be pointless."

"For reals!? That is _awesome_ , dude!"

"I guess." Bardel shrugged.

He picked up the chains and slung them over his shoulders, metals clunking again as he returned them back where he got them, all the while being followed around by Yang.

"Are you done with your workout?"

Bardel gave her another look before answering. "No."

"Yeah? What's next?" Yang asked eagerly.

"You gonna join?"

"I'm gonna try!"

"Alright." Bardel shrugged, hoisting another ring of thick and heavy chains on his shoulders, though these ones didn't have the bumper plates on them anymore. "Pushups, then pull-ups."

"With those things wrapped around you?"

"Of course. Do you want one too?"

"I think I'm good." Yang smiled wryly.

"Yang, Bardel," Blake cut in. "I think Weiss and I are gonna go do our own routines if you don't mind."

"Yeah," Weiss agreed. "Just..." She eyed Bardel's chains before giving Yang a look. "...be careful not to overdo it."

"Sure, sure." Yang waved.

She watched Weiss and Blake do some light stretching as they went off before turning to Bardel with a wide smile.

"Let me just get warmed up, I'll catch up with you."

"If you say so," He said before carrying two chairs to a vacant bench.

He positioned it so that when he took up a push-up position with his feet on the bench, he could place his hands on the chairs and be parallel to the ground on an even level. He pushed himself up, chains clinking together, then lowered himself until he went below the chairs, hanging himself for a second before he pulled himself up again only to repeat the process in a rhythmic motion.

After a bit, Yang arrived looking impressed, though Bardel didn't see it as he was focused on doing his push-ups with his head hung low. She took the space next to him and went down to do normal push-ups while trying to match his pace.

It wasn't easy.

Yang could do right and proper push-ups—clenched butt, straight back, goes down in a straight line, all that stuff because if she didn't, she could already feel Tiella slapping her ass just from thinking about it—but she could only do up to 20 before her arms go a little wobbly and her breathing becomes slightly labored. After doing her first set, she took a 30-second break before moving on to her second.

During her break, Yang watched Bardel steadily going through his set in an almost mechanical manner. He was grunting and his muscles were most certainly strained, however, with the way he went, it seemed like he could do it for another 10 minutes or so.

 _"That can't be natural."_

Yang wondered and pondered, she was fascinated with the show of strength the bulky boy had. It almost made her jealous. Realizing that 30 seconds had already passed, she carried on to her next set.

While they did their workouts on their own paces, Yang had a thought she had to voice. Luckily, they were done and were just cooling down before heading for the showers.

"Hey, Bardy."

Bardel didn't answer, only giving Yang a neutral look and a raised brow. Yang found it a little odd at first, but she grew to understand that he wasn't the expressive type like Lilly was nor was he willing to be social like Celeste—because she at least had a friendly smile when they first met, though it eventually evolved into a cheeky grin once they've gotten to know each other better. It was fine though, she was used to boys acting indifferently to a lot of things. She always wondered why boys had to act like they didn't care about stuff, but that wasn't really her question at the moment.

"How come Tiella doesn't lift weights?"

Bardel thought over the question for a second before answering with a question. "How come you never asked Tiella herself?"

Yang shrugged her shoulders, wiping down the side of her face with a towel. "I guess I just never wondered until I saw you doing everything while carrying weights."

Bardel looked at Yang for a few before he looked away with a huff, tired from his workout, while brushing his hair up once again.

"She wants to be fast."

Yang gave him a quizzical raise of her brow which made Bardel look at her the same before understanding her question.

"You see how she has little body fat?"

"Yeah?"

"That's intentional. Because if she added even just half a kilo of fat into her body, she'd slow down. Her body's pure muscle, more than mine."

Yang gave him a disbelieving brow, so Bardel explained further.

"I'm bigger, yeah, but that's because I have more fat and muscle mass—makes me bulky." Bardel thought over his next words for a second before continuing. "What'd Lilly say again...?" He muttered to himself while looking up. "I got proportionately less muscle when compared to Tiella because I have more fat."

"Oh, you mean muscle to body fat ratio!"

"That."

"And if she uses weights she gets more body fat?"

"Sorta."

"Sorta?"

"You gain muscle mass faster when you use weights, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you tire out, even more, when you do that too."

Yang thought over his words for a bit before clicking things together in her mind. "Oh, I get it! You'll want more food when you're more tired so you end up getting more body fat!"

"Yeah, that."

They split up soon after, going into separate shower rooms for their designated genders. They met up again just outside the gym, so Yang extended an invitation for him to meet up for breakfast if he wanted.

"Can't. Lilly's alone in the infirmary. I'm gonna keep her company so I'll eat there instead."

"Oh? Where's Celeste?"

"Went back to Glynda's since she could walk, apparently."

Team WBY looked between themselves for a moment before Yang gave him a smile. "That's okay, we can just eat together next time."

"Yeah, next time."

Bardel joined them on the walk to the cafeteria for breakfast, grabbing two trayfuls of eggs, sandwiches, rice, bacon, chicken, and a _lot_ of other high-protein, high-calorie food on his trays (he propped one tray on his arm like a skilled waiter at restaurants). Doing so certainly got him odd looks, more for the amount of food he gathered as he nonchalantly left the room and sauntered over to the infirmary while already snacking on one of the sandwiches.

 _"Life here's boring as fuck."_

Bardel glanced outside the windows as he took a leisurely stroll towards his destination.

 _"Probably why Tiella likes it here."_

He reached out and handled the knob, pushing the door open as he took quiet steps inside.

 _"Because it's boring as fuck."_

On the same bed as yesterday, Lilly laid asleep. Quietly, steadily, and soundly resting. He took a seat on the bed next to Lilly's, placing his trays on it as well. As he ate, he watched Lilly sleep for a few seconds before casting his gaze out the window where he could only see sunlight, trees, and the blue horizon with bouts of clouds here and there.

 _"Feels like I shouldn't be here. Like we don't belong here. Because us being here makes things wrong or something."_

After some time, he'd finished his breakfast along with the drinks. He set his trays aside and took a seat next to Lilly's bed so he could be closer to her. He crossed his arms and leaned his head back, almost hanging it, so he could take a quick nap.

 _"But it looks like she's already starting to get used to life here. She even found a girl."_

Slowly, warmly, softly.

His consciousness sunk as he let himself relax under the morning sunlight and slip easily. Though, before he was taken in by the Sandman, he suddenly remembered the look Tiella had when Lilly talked about returning home.

Her expression seemed hesitant, he remembered—as if she wasn't quite unwilling to stay.

 _"Does Tiella want to stay?"_

Moments after the thought passed his mind, his mind finally succumbed to a light slumber.

* * *

At the same time in the cafeteria, Team WBY was eating with Team JNPR.

They were all catching up with each other over what happened in the weekend and it was then that Blake came out to her other group of friends as faunus. They were all surprised, of course, and it was clear to anyone that Blake was expecting the worst with how tense her expression was. Although, a reassuring hand from both Weiss and Yang eased her off even if only for a bit.

The members of JNPR were speechless for a few, looking between themselves and Blake. The silence was broken when Jaune shrugged noncommittally.

"I definitely didn't know about that," Jaune admitted with a few side nods before returning to his meal.

"Thank you for telling us, Blake." Pyrrha smiled sweetly. She'd have reached over to touch Blake's hand if there weren't any food in the way. Nonetheless, she hoped that her smile conveyed enough of her feelings across towards their faunus friend.

Nora was about to shout but then she remembered that this was supposed to be a secret, so she leaned in and whispered instead. "What's your... uh... ani- no, no, that's racist. What's your... um..."

Blake raised a curious brow at Nora, a little amused at the way the bubbly girl was trying to contain herself. "My heritage?" She whispered.

Nora brightened up, beaming at Blake and nodding in agreement.

Blake smiled shyly. "I'm a cat faunus."

"I knew it!" Nora nearly shrieked, surprising Blake and the rest. "I always thought you acted a lot like a cat!"

She received looks from her friends, so she simply shrugged and smiled. "What? She's quiet, looks a little grumpy, takes a lot of naps outside, and likes tuna a lot."

Blake was about to refute, her finger raised and her mouth open before she paused and pursed her lips, realizing that all of Nora's points were all true. Blake reluctantly nodded as she returned to her meal, Yang snickering from beside her while the others simply smiled wryly before returning to their own meals.

She was honestly extremely relieved.

If Blake was more comfortable with being open, she'd have expressed her gratitude a little more vocally and she was even tempted to just take off her bow in their presence. But since she wasn't, she simply smiled at each and every one of her friends sincerely while tenderly holding Yang and Weiss' hands into her own. Her friends saw the smile she gave them, so they returned the gesture.

Jaune waved his hand as if his acceptance of her wasn't anything special—as if it was only natural. At the same time, Nora gave her two thumbs up while flashing her another bright smile.

It warmed her heart—a pang in her chest ached her heart so as she savored the warmth she was receiving from her friends. She was definitely happy, and most certainly feeling lucky that she met such wonderful friends from the humans she was so unwilling to trust before. Even now, she wasn't quite ready to trust them.

But with the people here?

The people she'd shared meals, classes, and fun times with?

The team she'd spent hard times with?

The people she'd come to know as dear friends?

She was more than happy to make them the exception.

And that was what ached her heart so.

Why did having human friends have to feel so special? Why couldn't it just be normal? After years of trying desperately to be accepted as an equal, the one time she decided not to focus on being accepted and having friends, on being alone and simply improving herself to achieve her goal, was when it suddenly happened. Was fate playing with her or was she simply doing things wrong even before the White Fang turned violent?

She couldn't understand it—she couldn't think of anything.

Why? How?

What did she do so differently for things to go the way they did?

Maybe if she knew, she could tell her old friends—her brothers and sisters in the White Fang. Maybe it wouldn't work for every person they meet but maybe it's still worth trying?

She glanced at her friends.

At Jaune who was talking to Pyrrha about a comic book and how there was this character that used certain moves with his sword and shield, wondering if he could do the same as well with her help.

At Ren who was quietly listening and humoring Nora as she regaled her dreams about a pancake Grimm to him in the most excited manner.

At Ruby who, even though she wasn't there, she admired for her unmarred childlike curiosity and optimism for the world.

At Weiss who she never, even in her wildest imaginations, would have thought she'd become friends with simply because of a surname.

At Yang who appeared bright like the sun and felt just as soft and gentle as the first light of each day she spent waking up in her dorm, enveloping her in a warmth that she wasn't quite sure she was willing to wake up without anymore.

She didn't know when, but she'd just realized that she'd been staring at Yang and that she was still holding her hand in hers. And the only reason she finally noticed was that Yang had been playing with their entwined hands, swinging them in the air between their faces as she smiled at her playfully. She didn't quite hear what Yang had said as she was focused on her thoughts, but Yang grinned at her, then took a spoonful of her meal, which was chicken parmigiana with a cup of rice, and spoonfed her.

It wasn't after chewing a few times did she finally snap out of her reverie. She swallowed her food and tried to grab a glass to drink some water but Yang wouldn't let go of her hand.

"Yang, please. I want to drink."

"You left hand's free."

She gave Yang a look before she lightheartedly shook her head with a breath, taking her glass into her free hand. As she drank, Yang questioned her.

"What's up, Blakey?"

She tilted her head in wonder at Yang's question, raising a brow as a silent question.

"You've been staring at me without eating anything for a while now. You're the only one not finished with breakfast, you know?"

She looked around their table at Yang's mention, noticing that she was the only one not done just as Yang said. She put her glass down and looked at Yang again, though before she could speak, Weiss cut in from beside her.

"She's probably mad that you're still holding her hand. She's right-handed after all and she still needs to eat."

"Even though she was the one that held mine in the first place?" Yang grinned. "I'm just savoring the moment until it's over," she said, touching the back of her cheek with Blake's hand.

Blake blushed a little at the action, feeling a little tingly inside as she felt Yang's touch on her own.

"It's nothing, Yang." She smiled.

"Really?" Yang teased. "You sure you weren't just mesmerized by my beauty?"

"Yang," Blake started, practically sighing out her name. "yes, you're very beautiful."

Apparently not expecting the frontal assault, Yang gaped a little as a blush formed, bright and apparent on her fair cheeks. Feeling particularly cheeky, Blake had a small grin on her face as she pushed forward with her assault.

"In fact, I find myself having a hard time taking my eyes off of you." She tilted her head sideways towards her meal. "So much so that I can't eat because I'm so distracted by you."

At her words, Yang took a breath in as she tried to speak but found herself stuttering incoherently, so her eyes wandered around instead, avoiding Blake's sharp pair of amber.

"And because we're both unwilling to let go," Blake continued, raising their interlaced fingers together. "will you continue helping me finish breakfast?"

Yang pretty much became putty in her hand, covering her face with her free hand, facing away from her.

"Yang?" Blake called sweetly, teasing more out of the blonde.

Yang didn't answer immediately, she simply stole glances at Blake as she tried to form words in her mind.

But it was that sickeningly sweet tone of voice she used to call her name paired with the way she tenderly held her hand.

God, it's so... _ugh!_

As Yang mulled and stirred in her thoughts, Weiss let out an exasperated sigh. She looked over Blake and found the white-haired heiress in question holding her face with eyes side glancing at the both of them.

Weiss sent her exasperated gaze towards Ren and Nora who were still in their own world, then to Jaune and Pyrrha who were also occupied in their own conversation, Pyrrha smiling ever so sweetly and happily as she listened attentively.

"Hey, Weiss? What's wrong?" Yang asked, finally managing to remove herself from her... stupor. Yes, stupor. Even though it's not quite the right word, that's what she thought of it.

Weiss almost sulked when Yang called out to her but she managed to give her a neutral look instead.

"It's nothing."

"That doesn't sound like nothing." Blake queried.

Weiss huffed through her nose, clearly irritated. "I just can't help but feel a little miffed and out of place in a table full of couples. It feels like I'm 7th wheeling with so many of you here."

Weiss' comment garnered everyone's attention, each of them looking back at her with some semblance of blush on their cheeks. Especially Pyrrha—hers nearly taking on the same color as her hair. Everyone started acting a little coy after the fact, Nora even squirmed a little in place. Jaune on the other hand...

"7th wheeling? Where's the third couple?" He asked after counting the ' _couples_ ' on their table.

Everyone could see Pyrrha dying a little inside as they all looked her in the eyes, her painfully forced smile cracking just a tiny bit. They silently gave their heartfelt sympathies for Pyrrha as she sent her eyes down and to the side, her sweet smile wavering ever so slightly.

Blake watched on as Weiss gave him an irked look while the rest of them shook their head at Jaune being, well, _Jaune_. And as the peaceful morning merrily rolled along, her thoughts were taken away and became occupied once more.

 _"What are Torchwick and the White Fang planning?"_

* * *

Come two days after at Beacon Academy and the usual suspects were already up to something.

Tiella only had her hand to worry about, though she still hurt all over, and Lilly had been up since midday, though she's still wearing a neck brace and was sitting in a wheelchair.

It was after school and they were in the library along with Bardel.

"Seeing _you_ in a library feels like I'm lucid dreaming," Tiella noted in sarcasm.

"Like you're any better." Bardel retorted.

Tiella grinned and crossed her arms smugly. "I actually am, I visit this place from time to time."

"Guys, I appreciate you accompanying me but let's keep quiet in the library if you want to stay with me, okay?" Lilly chimed in from beside Tiella without looking up from her book. "I wouldn't wanna have to force you out if you both get rowdy like usual."

Lilly wanted to see Beacon's collection so she went there by herself. Though, while in the middle of the hall, Bardel saw her after coming out from the gym so he joined her along the way.

"You'd be way more convincing if you weren't in a wheelchair," Tiella said as she rested her head on her arm, using it as a pillow to look back at Lilly with neutral eyes.

Tiella's spine tingled as the hair on her nape and forearms stood erect from goosebumps. She hadn't even realized it, but she just moved her head a few centimeters back—just enough space for her to dodge a blank piece of paper that buried at least 5 cm into the wooden desk of the table they were on as if it was just stabbed there like a knife.

Tiella looked at the piece of paper as cold sweat dripped down the side of her head before regarding the girl beside her—still blissfully reading as if nothing happened. Tiella huffed a sigh out then yanked the piece of paper out of the desk only to accidentally rip it at the base where it buried.

 _"And I didn't even fucking see her move. She gets faster every time she uses The One Almighty."_ Tiella mentally shook her head, not even having the energy to get surprised at Lilly anymore after being with her for months. _"Guess that means I can never afford to hold back against Lilly anymore."_

"Did you just tear a page out of that bo—"

And Tiella reflexively moved her head back once again as another piece of paper tore itself into the desk, however, it was _much_ closer to Tiella's nose than the first one— _dangerously_ so. She heard Lilly tap something beside her, so she looked beyond Lilly and found a ream of 1/4 sheet of paper.

 _"She has an entire fucking stack of papers for ammunition—Jesus Christ, this girl. She expected this to happen."_

"Alright, fine. I'll shut it." Tiella relented reluctantly, earning a snigger from Bardel just across her. In response, she silently flicked Bardy the birdy right in front of his face, prompting him to do the same to her as well.

 _"Only a matter of time before she leaves me in the dust."_

Tiella thought almost wistfully. She always believed that it was inevitable but she also felt that this was one of those things you shouldn't bother getting worked up about. Despite that, she can't help but feel slightly annoyed about it. Nonetheless, she firmly felt that it wasn't anything to be worried about. She's sure that Lilly held some reservations about her just the same.

 _"That's just how it is. But I got Aura now, so maybe I'm not gonna be left behind just yet? We'll see."_

At her words, Lilly smiled gratefully. They then spent the next few minutes in bored and peaceful silence, only the sound of Lilly turning the pages of her book leisurely being their ambient noise. And by leisurely, she was skimming through the pages of the book as if she was simply opening it to flex its pages and spine open so that she may hold it open with less difficulty. She closed the book gently before placing it atop her stack of books in front of her before taking another one from a much bigger stack from her right.

' _How many books had she read at that point and how many did she take out to read that afternoon?_ ', one might ask. Looking from afar, there was already a moderately high stack of books in front of her. But if one looked to her right, one could easily notice a larger number of books taking up the entirety of the table. The only part of the table without any books was the one in front of Tiella and Bardel—at least, at the moment.

To many people, she appeared as if she was simply inspecting the integrity of the books—checking how dirty they are, if some spines or pages were broken or partly torn, if they've been kept well or not—and one couldn't fault them for it.

Lilly closed her book, a little more loudly than before but not enough to earn looks from nearby library-goers like them. She gave Tiella an apologetic look as she stacked the book away. "I'm sorry about earlier, Tielle. I was in the mood to read peacefully and I didn't want any distractions."

Tiella didn't mind, so she simply gave Lilly a bored look. "Lemme guess, you're talking to me right now because that last one sucked."

"W-Well," Lilly scratched her cheek and looked up, not meeting Tiella's piercing gaze. "I wouldn't say that it _sucked_ , it's just that some of its contents are something I disagree with personally."

Tiella raised a curious brow. "Yeah?"

Lilly nodded, looking back at Tiella. "Yes, it took the most roundabout way of saying faunus as a whole may indeed be truthfully equal to humans in a lot of aspects but since they currently aren't, the author justified why they should be treated as inferiors until then."

Tiella opened her mouth, her tone dry as she looked to the side mockingly. "Sounds like a load of horseshit."

"Anyway, I'm gonna take a short break from reading. Any of you want a drink?"

"I'll get em." Bardel immediately offered as he stood up. "I'm this close to falling asleep so I feel the need to move. Whaddaya want?"

"Black coffee, please, I don't mind if it's canned."

"For you to fuck off."

"Black coffee and bitch gets fuck all, got it," Bardel said as he moved towards the vending machine just outside the library.

"Asshole, get me sweet milk," Tiella said before Bardel walked out the door.

They both watched as Bardel disappeared before Lilly spoke up. "How've you been since I blacked out?"

Tiella sat upright from the desk before slouching again with her chin propped up on her hand, elbow on the table. "We got a few visits from some teams, RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, and CRDL."

"Coffee and Cardinal?"

"Yeah, and the names are spelled C-F-V-Y for Coffee and C-R-D-L for Cardinal. CFVY's a sophomore team and CRDL's a freshman team."

"They have such unique team names." Lilly smiled amused.

"Yeah, well, after that, Bardy stayed with you until you woke up."

Lilly smiled gratefully as soon as she heard it. "He can be such a sweetheart sometimes."

"With you, maybe," Tiella replied dryly. "Why can't he be like that with me?"

"Probably because you act like a boy around him."

"I don't act like a boy-"

"" _I act like me,_ "" Lilly chimed in with Tiella as she'd heard her say the same thing a few times already. "I know, I know." Lilly laughed. "Jokes aside, it's probably because you're always so rough with each other."

Tiella pursed her lips, giving Lilly a small pout. "Whatever, I don't really want or need it anyway."

"Because you have Glynda now!"

Tiella smiled, "And she's the best," a small blush adorning her cheeks.

Lilly smiled as well, happy for her best friend. "How about we come up with team names like that too?"

"I thought you liked Avatāra?"

"I do and it'll always be our team name! But I also like the sound of Team AMB, read as Ambrosia."

"Ambrosia," Tiella repeated dubiously.

"It's nice, isn't it? It could mean the dessert, so it already accommodates for a lot of colors that we three are associated with like red, gold, green, and purple, but it also relates to the food of the gods in Greek literature that grants immortality to whoever consumes it."

Tiella looked at Lilly incredulously. "Whose ass did you pull that shit out of?"

"Mine and all other Greek poets and writers." Lilly retorted while sticking her tongue out before she continued. "And AMB stands for Aliciel, Margory, and Bardel."

"Oh, so, _you're_ the leader?" Tiella gave Lilly a look.

"Who better?" Lilly smiled smugly as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Me, obviously." Tiella grinned while looking sideways condescendingly. "Team... uh..." she drawled, unable to think of a fitting name on the spot.

Lilly smiled mockingly. "Go on, Tielle, I'm waiting."

"Shut up, I'm thinking."

Lilly sighed teasingly as she rolled her eyes and it was then that she saw Bardel returning with two drinks in hand. Lilly tapped Tiella on the arm then gestured behind her with her eyes, prompting Tiella to look behind her.

As soon as she saw Bardy _without_ her requested drink, she scowled and returned to face in front of her. "Team MAV, read as Mauve—stands for Margory, Armas, and Vernillion." She grinned smugly. "Has a nice ring to it."

Lilly gave Tiella a look before replying. "You do realize that mauve is a color that's more closely associated with me instead of you, right? You're red and gold, Bardy's black and green, and I'm black and purple. Mauve is a pale purple."

Tiella gave her a dry look. "It's like you're implying you're a goddess or something with how you're reasoning with me."

"With the way I am?" Lilly smiled smugly. "What else would you relate me to?" She asked rhetorically, not bothering the hide the scorn and indignation as she let the smug facade drop from her face.

Tiella looked at Lilly nonplussed, huffing a sigh out her nostrils as her response. She understood the reason Lilly reacted like so.

Much like Tiella, Lilly also had something she deeply disliked. Although, compared to Tiella who constantly feigned ignorance over her... _displeasure_ , Lilly had long since come to acknowledge it. She'd accepted it ever since she was just a pre-teen but that didn't mean she liked it.

Nay, she deeply hated it.

One could even say that Lilly's hatred for such a thing was comparable to Tiella's deep scorn for her Essentia.

It certainly makes one wonder, doesn't it?

She has an obvious fondness for god and myth related things and yet when she's being compared to one or something related, she can't help but feel her mood plummet just from the idea alone.

Bardel casually tossed Lilly's canned coffee towards her, catching it without looking away from Tiella, though she did have half a mind to acknowledge him. "Thanks, Bardy."

Bardel sat back on his chair quietly, raising a curious brow at the two girls in front of him. Lilly saw the look and smiled at him as he opened his carton of sweet milk to drink, eliciting an incredibly pissed look from Tiella.

"Dickwad."

Bardel, as he was in the middle of drinking, flipped Tiella the bird in response.

"But, let's say I approve of you being team leader, just for fun." Lilly winked, gaining the other two's attention back to her. "Team MAV could be read as Maverick instead."

Tiella thought over the word for a few seconds before giving Lilly a skeptical look once more. "Is there even a color associated with that word?"

"None that actually represents the word itself but it could mean _unorthodox_ which I think is very fitting for the three of us, don't you think?" Lilly smiled.

"The hell's this talk about bitch being team leader?" Bardel cut in.

"None of your business, fuck boy."

"Did your wife feed you bitchflakes for breakfast because holy shit, you're going full Bitchface McGee right now."

"Fuck off," Tiella said, flipping Bardy the birdy once more.

Before Bardel could keep the ball rolling, Lilly chimed in with a soft clap. "We were talking about team names the way Beacon does them. I suggested AMB, read as Ambrosia and Tielle suggested MAV, read as mauve."

Bardel gave Lilly a look that clearly expressed the feeling of ' _I can't fucking believe you're wasting time and energy on dumb shit like that_ ' even without her needing to use God Eyes to make sure and that made her grin all the wider.

"What about you, Bardy? What kind of team name would you like if you were made the leader?"

Bardy wanted to ignore the question for a second until he realized that he had nothing better to do, so he half-assedly thought over a name. "Team BLC (Black) or something, I dunno, fuck off."

Lilly and Tiella thought over the suggestion for a second with Lilly nodding with pursed lips and Tiella clicking her tongue in irritation.

"It's better than Team MAV (Mauve) at least," Lilly commented while looking at Bardel's hair and hers before giving Tiella's a smug grin.

"Fuck you guys."

Tiella sulked, crossing her arms while looking away from them both. Lilly smiled wryly at the act, almost feeling a little guilty with the teasing— _almost_. Bardel looked at Tiella neutrally before he sighed, shook his head, then reached down his cargo pants' pocket to fetch an unopened carton of sweet milk—placing it in front of Tiella without a look or a word, earning a wide and amused smile from Lilly.

Tiella heard the sound of a box being placed atop the table, so she gave it a glance and was surprised to see the drink she requested. She saw Bardel quietly sipping his drink at leisure before taking the one before her, opening it with a small smile on her face that disappeared just as quickly as it showed.

"Thanks," Tiella muttered.

While looking out the window, Bardel nodded his head in acknowledgment as he sipped his drink. Lilly looked over her unfinished stack of books to her right, then picked the closest one. She read through one book for a few, stacking atop her finished books before speaking up once again.

"Did anything happen to you today, Tielle?"

"Nothing much."

Tiella, done with her drink, crushed the carton with a hand before tossing it far behind her, the carton spun and rolled through the air for a couple of seconds before hitting a wall and finally falling into the mouth of an open trash bin on the other side of the room. The act caught other people's attention, most of which figured the Professional Bully was showing off again, but really she just felt lazy and didn't want to stand and walk all the way back when she was sure she could make the shot.

"You're quite irritable today."

"Isn't she always irritable?"

"Thanks to you, dickhead."

"Fuck you too, bitch."

"It's just that your fuse is a little shorter today."

"I don't know how you measured that but okay."

"You know what I mean, Tielle."

Lilly overlapped her arms on the table for her to use as a pillow to lay her head on, or so she would, had she not been in a neck brace. So instead, she leaned back on her wheelchair and looked at Tiella with both amusement and concern. Tiella looked at Lilly for a bit before sighing. She crossed her arms as she thought back to just about an hour or so ago.

* * *

Tiella just finished instructing a team building game since she had to introduce Team CRDL to Team RWBY as their new classmates under her.

She understood that there was some form of... _apprehension_ between them, so she decided to clear the air by having them all play a fun and exciting game of _Patintero_.

* * *

"Wait, why do they have bad blood between them?"

"Don't interrupt me this damn early in my flashback."

"Well, I don't really understand how it's a problem that Team CRDL is gonna be classmates with Team RWBY under you, so..."

Tiella sighed while hanging her head sideways in annoyance. "Fine, fine... so, basically..."

 _One short story later..._

"Oh."

"But they're good little boys now. Well, at least they're trying to be."

"That's good."

"Satisfied?"

"Oui."

"So, anyway..."

* * *

 _Patintero_ is a traditional Filipino game back on Earth.

* * *

"You introduced a children's game from our world?" Bardel gave Tiella an incredulous look.

"I swear to fucking _god_ if you don't just let me tell the story."

"Sheesh, whatever."

* * *

Tiella's old mercenary team once had a mission there where they had to stay in the slums for a couple of weeks and back then, Tiella was just a pre-teen. After spending the first few days doing nothing but training in the morning and fuck all the rest of the day, Tiella chose to venture out into the slums out of pure curiosity (she didn't have a part in the mission since it required veterans to do the job, so she and Karen had to skip out along with Marcille as their caretaker, the only other woman in the group aside from them and Granny Roberta).

During her walk as a 12-year-old Tiella, she stumbled upon some kids playing a weird game of tag.

It is played by two teams. The gist of it is that it is played in a rectangular grid drawn on the ground. It is subdivided into four to six equal parts by drawing a central lengthwise line and then one or two crosswise lines. The size of the grid is directly proportional to the number of players. The individual squares in the grid should be large enough that one person can stand in the middle out of the reach of someone standing on the lines.

Each team need only two to six players, luckily they already had four on each side. One team acts as taggers and they stand on the lines of the grid, not moving any further than the corners while the other team acts as runners, and their goal is to reach one side of the rectangular grid to the other without getting tagged. Getting tagged means you have to sit out until the round is over.

Taggers can only move on their assigned lines in the grid except for the tagger on the first line who is regarded as the team leader (called ' _patoto_ '). Unlike the other taggers, the _patoto_ can move in the central lengthwise line. Taggers can tag runners at any given time as soon as the game starts, even runners that have already passed them, but their feet must _always_ stay on their assigned lines. Tagging a runner when none or only one foot is on the line is not counted.

Runners, on the other hand, can cross the grids at any given time as soon as the game starts but they can only exit at both ends of the rectangular grid. Teams score points when one circuit has been completed (from one end to the other and back again). Once all runners have been tagged, however, the teams reverse roles and the game begins anew.

And because this was a game played by experienced fighters (to some degree of experience), Tiella had the good thought of placing a time limit of 5 minutes for the runners to complete the circuit. Once the time limit was over, score or no score, roles were reversed and the new round began.

It was a very fun experience for Tiella. She didn't understand a single thing at first but after Marcille translated and explained the game to her, she decided to join in on the fun. The kids in the slum acted a little apprehensive (and very awkward, some of them openly gawking and/or blushing at her) at first, it wasn't all the time they saw foreigners after all, much less someone actively trying to communicate with them. But after some time, they managed to play the game and have a lot of fun in the end. Tiella even got Karen involved soon after.

It was one of the few times Tiella had a normal childhood experience since becoming a trainee mercenary, so it was definitely one of her most memorable moments. Granny Roberta got really angry at them because they were supposed to keep their anonymity, especially from the locals as soon as she found out about it, though. Gramps was angry, too, but he asked Tiella for the rules of the game so that the whole mercenary team could play it from time to time as a form of team building and agility training too.

And it was precisely for those two reasons that Tiella decided to make them play the game. To build rapport between the two in a way that didn't neglect their training.

The roles were decided through a fair game of rock, paper, scissors, and they first had a dry-run before the real thing began. To mix things up and keep it interesting, as soon as the dry run was over, Tiella switched two people from each team over to the other. Who switched over to the other side was decided in a game of elimination rock, paper, scissors. After a few rounds, Cardin and Sky ended up with Ruby and Yang (Team RSCY, read as Risky) while Weiss and Blake ended up with Dove and Russel (Team BWRD, read as Bard).

Needless to say, the first round was hilarious (to Tiella).

* * *

"You're such a meanie."

"It was funny." Tiella shrugged.

* * *

Members of Team CRDL decided to let their members pass easily while giving members of Team RWBY a hard time, so members of Team RWBY did the same as well. They were very close to having a brawl so Tiella had to step in to pause the game and implement a punishment of 5 laps around the campus every time they did anything rule-breaking.

And so, a new round began and everyone played fairly, albeit begrudgingly.

Both teams were operating stiffly and awkwardly in the first few rounds, each one only operating well with the respective members of their original team and reluctantly cooperating with the other side.

Case in point, Yang told Cardin to tag Dove because Cardin was closer to Dove than her but Cardin hesitated at first as he didn't like taking orders from people of another team, much less a girl, so Dove nearly got through them if it wasn't for Ruby who acted as the _patoto_ , running up (without using her Semblance) the central lengthwise line to catch Dove and tag him.

Tiella realized that she needed to keep them motivated properly, so she told everyone that the team with most scores gets a prize.

What that prize was was something she didn't know to give, so she asked them for suggestions.

"Another chance to fight you one on one but you won't be holding back like you did against Lilly." Yang immediately suggested.

* * *

"Does Yang constantly try to challenge you?"

"No, not really. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"Yang's that blonde girl that can take a hit, right?" Bardel chimed in.

"Yeah."

"She tried to keep up with me in the gym a couple days ago."

"Yeah?" Tiella smiled with a curious brow raised. "How'd she do?"

"She didn't do my workout but she's alright. She only did calisthenics like you though."

"That's because I asked them to. They're fighters that heavily rely on their bodies, especially Yang, so I'm making it so that they become very familiar with how far their bodies can move and go. But if they want more muscle, I guess I can make them lift weights too."

Bardel didn't say anymore, only nodding at Tiella's words.

* * *

She got a few looks from her team as well as some mocking snickers from some of Team CRDL. She didn't mind though, she was anxiously waiting for Tiella's answer to care after all.

"You're gonna die if I do it with my Aura up, you know that, right?" Tiella asked without a hint of mockery to her tone, genuine concern for the girl apparent in her eyes.

"I know," Yang resolutely answered. "But even after all I saw, I still can't see where you're standing," She said, her somber mood permeating through every word spoken. "I know you're far beyond me right now, but I wanna know just how far. And the only way for me to truly know is to face you head-on and experience what it's like to actually fight you for myself."

Tiella stared back into Yang's bright lilacs, finding in them anxiety and conviction. She smiled at the girl, thinking she can't possibly deny such an honest request.

She rubbed her nape with the palm of her right hand and pursed her lips with a tilt of her head. "I guess _dying_ is too strong a word." She grinned. " _Crippled_ , more like."

Yang didn't react, only steadfastly keeping her gaze at Tiella. Her response didn't really imply that she agreed after all.

Tiella sighed, relenting. "Only if your team wins."

She expected Yang to perk up at her agreement but instead, she got an even more serious look from the blonde girl.

"With your weapons."

Tiella's expression hardened, her sharp eyes turning fiercer—a ferocious gaze that would have paralyzed Yang had she not expected it.

* * *

"Oooohh, gutsy," Lilly commented.

"She got a deathwish or something?" Bardel questioned.

"She's trying hard, at least."

* * *

Still, the look wasn't completely ineffective—she was quite intimidated after all if the loud and fast thumping of her heart meant anything.

Weiss and Blake wanted to intervene but Ruby held them back with a hand on their shoulders, only giving them a silent shake of her head with an almost melancholic look to her face. She then gestured with her head once again to look at their teammate.

They didn't understand why Ruby was stopping them from going to Yang.

"But Ruby—" Weiss spoke out.

And in a weak voice, "Please." Ruby cut in immediately, her tone carried her words wistfully as she was reminded of the time Yang started doting on her even more. She couldn't remember exactly when, but she could remember when Yang became a little overprotective of her. She didn't understand why but after years of living with her beloved half-sister, she, at the very least, understood that Yang wasn't doing it completely out of love.

She was doting on Ruby because of guilt.

Weiss looked deep into the eyes of wistful silver, trying to fathom her leader's intentions. She couldn't understand it at all—the best guess she could hazard was that it might be something only the sisters know of—so she simply did as told and watched out for her teammate from the side.

Tiella held the gaze long and hard, contemplating, wondering, trying to understand the depth of Yang's conviction.

She walked up to Yang, footfalls loud and heavy. She grabbed Yang by the collar of her gym clothes and lifted her up all the while never letting up on her glare.

"Do you think you can handle it? My weapons are weaker than yours by design but I've learned how to coat them with my Aura already. Even an idiot like me can do it if I try hard enough."

* * *

"Really? How did you find the time? With how you're supposed to help the professors and teach Team RWBY and now Team CRDL, too, I can't see you having a lot of time on your hands to pull that off."

"I live with Glynda."

"Oh, so you have Glynda teach you? Isn't she busy too?"

"She is, but she really only needs to tell me what to do. She just leaves me alone until I come back to her with a question or two."

"Maybe I should have our Auras unlocked too." Lilly wondered aloud, stretching her hands and arms out in front of her. "What say you, Bardy?"

"I don't think I need it."

"That's true, but it'll help you become stronger."

"I don't need any more convincing." Bardy shrugged. "So how do we do that? Can we do it with just us three?"

"I think we'll need someone with Aura to unlock ours," Lilly said while giving Tiella an expectant look. "Can you do it?"

"Nope." Tiella immediately denied. She looked up and wondered for a bit before speaking again. "Actually, I'm not sure. Probably better to have someone with more experience with Aura to do it."

"True." Lilly agreed, holding a hand to her chin. "Maybe I can ask Ozpin for help."

"You do that," Tiella said, leaning back on her chair while slinging one arm over the backrest. "So, anyway..."

* * *

Yang grit her teeth as she tightly grabbed Tiella's wrists, squeezing them with as much strength as she could.

"I ca—"

Tiella lifted her higher and raised her voice to just barely a shout. "Fighting with weapons isn't a fucking game to me, Yang! _Can you fucking handle it!?_ "

Yang swung herself back and forth to butt her head with Tiella's forcefully, surprising onlookers with a gasp. Her teeth clenched, her voice strained with anger, and her eyes glowed a dangerous red.

" _You're Oum darn right I can_."

Tiella didn't budge from the blow, her response was to simply push back with just as much force before dripping Yang to the ground on her bum.

Immediately, the rest of Team RWBY ran up to Yang's side, Blake offered a hand to help her up. The presence of her team surrounding her, reaďy to aid her, gave her a pleasant sense of warmth and comfort.

"Win the game then prove to me you're worth it. Until then, you're gonna be handled with my kiddie gloves on." She turned from Yang and cast a glance at every single one of her students. "Well? Anyone else that has a death wish? Win the game and you can sign your death warrant too," she said without a hint of humor to her voice. "I don't understand this fixation you have on making me fight seriously. I'm always fighting seriously, the degree of my seriousness just depends on the kind of fight I'm in."

Tiella tapped the back of her left hand on her right palm repeatedly as she explained herself. "If it's a spar, I spar with as much seriousness it needs for a spar. In other words, _fucking nada_. You guys can't even take a fucking hit without flinching even with your Auras on! How many of you've blocked blows without the help of your weapons? And you want me to fight you seriously? You wanna know what gets a serious fight from me? Come at me with the intent to kill me—I'll defend my life just the same."

She turned and walked back to her original place in front of them with a harrumph before crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Alright, I guess Yang can take a hit." She shrugged her shoulders with an eye-roll. "But that's about it!" She clapped her hands loudly and wore a grin. "I can nitpick you guys any time later so for now, just get on with the game. You can tell me about the stuff you want when you win. _If_ you win."

 _"I was gonna go on a rant about their faults but I guess that'll be going overboard right now."_

* * *

"Really, Tielle?" Lilly looked at her skeptically.

"What?" Tiella gave her a quizzical look.

"I don't think you should be underestimating them like that."

Tiella gave Lilly a sarcastic look—brows raised, mouth pursed, and eyes half-closed. "Lilly, Little Rose buried me half-way into a concrete wall and there was nothing I could do against it. I think I have a pretty good idea of how good they are."

"You mean to say, ' _about_ it'," Lilly grinned, knowing full well she was gonna piss Tiella off.

"I'll show you a fucking nazi if you grammar nazi me again in real life." Tiella snarked back with a grit of her teeth.

Lilly giggled for a bit before returning to their topic. "I just think that riling them up like that would be a bit counter-productive if you do it all the time, you know? What if they feel demotivated?"

"They either harden up or stay soft—either way, they'll need to suck it up and get good."

"I know you're going for that tough love angle, but you have to be careful, okay? Don't overdo it. Especially with Yang and Ruby."

It was Tiella's turn to give Lilly a skeptical look. "What made you pick them out?"

Lilly shrugged with a purse of her lips. "I just think they're the type to respond more to positive reinforcement and incentives instead of the tough love you're giving them."

"That's why I'll be giving 'em a prize if they won like I said I would. Besides, if I did that kinda preferential treatment, it'd be unfair to everybody else."

"I know, but still, okay?"

"Fine."

* * *

With all that was said and done, the game was restarted. Team RWBY shared looks with each other, an unspoken agreement to give it their best even when faced against each other.

The camaraderie and zeal that Team RWBY showed affected Team CRDL as well, each one giving the others sharp looks before they all nodded in agreement just the same.

Tiella expected another round of bullshit from the haphazardly formed team so it came as a pleasant surprise to her when she saw that everyone was playing seriously.

It was a close match between the two teams—Team BWRD ahead by one point up until the final round—but, ultimately, Team RSCY pulled a fast one over Team BWRD when it was just Yang and Cardin left in the grid.

They already managed to get past Weiss and Russel but they still had to be careful not to stand too far back lest they get tagged from behind.

Cardin shared a look with Yang before he immediately gestured to follow his lead with his head.

Yang didn't understand Cardin's intentions at first, but after a few rounds of playing with him on her team, she found that even he could be a sport too so she felt obligated to return the gesture.

And so, despite not knowing what Cardin was planning, she followed closely behind him as they both ran towards Dove.

Confused and, admittedly, a little intimidated that his Leader and _the_ Yang Xiao Long were teaming up against him, he froze on the spot and would've stayed frozen still had it not been for Blake's prompting yell.

Dove's look hardened as he took a wide stance to block more of the way while he stood in the middle of his line.

"Split!"

Cardin yelled as he took to his left, thus prompting Yang to her right, where she was situated away from both Dove and Blake's reach. Blake tried to run for Yang but Cardin purposefully got in the way so he ended up getting tagged by Dove but it was all for good because Yang managed to run past them with no problems earning one last point before the game ended.

And as the scores tied, each team leader shook hands for a good game despite the rocky start. Tiella clapped her hands loudly to gather everyone's attention.

"Nice game, everyone. Since it's a tie, I can just give you guys what you want as long as it's well within my ability to give it to you. Doesn't have to be now, though. Let me know anytime, okay?"

And with that, each team thought over what they'd like Tiella to give them.

"Hey."

Cardin turned towards the voice that called out, finding Yang giving him a look. He raised a brow. "What is it?"

Yang held her look for a few but she grinned in the end, walking up to Cardin with a handshake to offer. "Good game. I can see why you're the leader in your team."

Cardin eyed the offered hand for a bit, a little skeptical that it could be a prank, but after meeting Yang's honest gaze, he nodded and shook it. "Thanks." He shyly scratched the back of his head while looking away. "I didn't do what you said earlier, so I felt like I had to give you a win at least. Just so we're even."

Yang gave Cardin a strong pat on the shoulder. "It's all good. See ya."

Then, she walked back to her team.

Cardin blankly looked at his hand while his own team members surrounded him. He huffed, before turning to his boys.

 _"See ya."_

"Let's get cleaned up and eat something. That game was pretty tiring," Cardin said.

"Yeah, it was alright," Sky commented.

"Would've been better if we were on the same team, but whatever," Russel added.

"Let's get burgers," Dove said.

"You and your damn burgers," Cardin commented sarcastically.

"What? They're good."

Everybody shrugged and nodded in agreement—Mama's burgers _are_ good.

* * *

"That's nice."

"Yeah." Tiella agreed, nodding to herself in satisfaction of her work.

"So why were you pissed? Is it because of Yang?" Lilly asked even though she already had an idea of what might have ticked Tiella off. She could use God Eyes to guess, but since Tiella was willing to talk, she found it unnecessary and disrespectful to do so.

Bardel stayed quiet, only glancing at their red-haired teammate switching her proud grin for a scowl.

Tiella sighed, scratching her head in irritation. "They're so adamant about making me ' _fight seriously_ ' like it's some kinda joke or contest. I found it funny at first but now it's just annoying, they've no idea what they're trying to get into. It's like they're not taking me seriously and it's getting on my nerves."

Lilly sighed, a half-smile on her face as she gave Tiella a wry look. "You've got it all backwards, Tielle."

Tiella remained silent, only responding with an incredulous brow raised.

"It's precisely _because_ they're taking you seriously that they _want_ you to fight seriously."

Confused, Tiella only gave Lilly a quizzical look.

"You're the one not taking them seriously, Tielle."

"You sure about that?"

"Of course."

"Oh, yeah?" Tiella challenged.

"When was the last time you didn't refer to or look at them as if they were kids? Just listening to you tell that story earlier, you were messing with them while giving them the training and team-building opportunity they need, isn't that right?"

At her words, Tiella had a contemplating look as she cast her eyes on the table.

"It's not a bad thing because you're friends with them, Tielle, but you still primarily see them as your juniors and/or students—which is _true_. And, as I said, it's not a bad thing but there's this pedestal they raise you up on whenever they look at you because you're their senior in both life and fighting—and isn't that the reason they came to you for help in the first place? Because they believe that you're better than them over certain things and are hoping you're going to help them improve?"

Bardel spun his empty can on his finger like what one would to a basketball as he idly listened, a little amused that Tielle had a very contemplative look over her face as Lilly lectured her lightly.

"As far as I see it, they're _very_ serious. Yang isn't afraid to show it and I'm sure the rest of her team feels the same. So I'm betting they're all hoping to be treated just the same too. It's not as if they're asking to be treated like your equal, I'm just saying that they want you to take them seriously as well."

As she finished her piece, she grabbed the nearest book to her right to read, letting the ambient silence of the library take over—giving Tiella as much time as she needed to process her words. After some time, Bardel stood, taking Lilly's empty can with him to dispose of in the trash bin. He'd throw it as well, but he wasn't quite sure he could make the shot the same way Tiella did earlier.

"What do you suggest?" Tiella asked as she looked ahead, eyes idly glancing over whatever's in front of her.

Lilly closed her book, stacking it away as she reached for another. "Taking them head-on is a nice start. I'm sure they'll appreciate you trying to reciprocate the feeling and your honesty. Like you said before, they're all good kids," she said without looking up from her new book.

"They are, they are," Tiella said offhandedly.

"By the way, Tielle." Lilly closed her book to give Tiella an excited look.

"What's up?" Tiella asked, feeling slightly apprehensive from the look she was getting.

"Do you know anyone with a guitar I can borrow? Better yet, buy me a guitar!" Lilly's eyes sparkled.

Tiella paused for a few seconds, blinking at Lilly with a dubious look. "The hell?"

* * *

"Yang?"

"Yeah, sis?"

"Why did you do that?"

Team RWBY was spending the rest of their afternoon leisurely resting in their dorm after a surprisingly heart-pumping game of _Patintero_ or so Tiella called it. After two days doing nothing but the routine they've gotten used to in the past two weeks, they expected nothing out of the ordinary to happen even when Tiella mentioned that she would be able to join them after school.

So one could imagine their surprise when Tiella introduced Team CRDL to them as their new classmates under her—even jokingly saying how she could probably start a club for their afterschool activities at that point with how many she'd officially taken under her wing.

Yang was surprised and quite apprehensive, eyeing them with a critical glare—Cardin in particular.

Weiss was visibly off-put but was still trying to be receptive by staying civil as a way to respect Tiella's decision.

Ruby didn't like it either—she still thought that Team CRDL was a team of bullies—but after reminding herself that she hadn't seen or heard of them doing anything untoward since Tiella came, she decided that she should worry more about how her team would react to them instead.

Especially Blake.

Blake held up a stone-cold front, arms crossed, eyes lazy and neutral, and her posture emphasized her _indifference_ as she simply gave Team CRDL a passing glance with a raised brow before sending her eyes towards her own teammates until finally focusing on herself doing dynamic stretches.

It would have easily convinced her friends and Tiella had they not already know the kind of person she is, but fortunately (or unfortunately), that wasn't the case.

Tiella held a grin up as she took everyone's reactions towards each other in amusement. She fully understood that they weren't on good terms and would have been practically strangers if they weren't classmates. And it was exactly that reason that she was hoping for something interesting to happen between them.

She would, of course, intervene before it could get _too_ interesting but until then, she'd let each team sort themselves out while minding to give them a push in the right direction.

Surprised, though pleasantly, they managed to build some form of rapport with each other. Tension and awkwardness were still present in the air between them but it wasn't as bad as before where just a few choice words would lead to someone throwing hands at the other. They were wary but they were just a little bit more open now.

And it was all thanks to Tiella messing with them under the pretext of ' _experiencing how it would be like to work with people other than the team they've gotten used to or at least have some idea of it_ '.

"Did what?" Yang feigned ignorance, not bothering to look up from her scroll as she shuffled through her playlist—constantly tapping next as she couldn't find a proper song to play according to her mood.

She was lying on her side atop her bed, head rested on her hand as she propped her arm up on her elbow, headphones snug over her ears. Ruby was on Weiss' bed, sitting on the edge as she simply looked at her sister. Weiss was freshening up with a cold glass of water by the study desk she, more often than not, occupied. Blake sat by the window sill, one foot hanging outside the dorm as she leaned back on the frame with another book in her hand—enjoying the ever-present gentle breeze. Although, despite the book being open mid-way through the pages, it was obvious to anyone that spared a glance at her for more than a second that she wasn't truly focused on reading.

Ruby pouted at her sister's response, crossing her arms. "Do you really want me to spell it out for you?"

Yang paused her scrolling through her scroll to give Ruby a look, noting that her baby sister wasn't in the mood to play along. She sighed, hung her head sideways before she sat upright with her legs crossed and took her headphones off.

Yang shrugged her shoulders while looking to the side. "I just want a good, blood-pumping match. I wanna get strong, y'know?"

Ruby pursed her lips at her sister's response. "Okay, but can't you tell me why?"

The exchange wasn't lost to their partners, each one silently paying attention as they tried to mind their own business until they felt it necessary to join in. It was clear to them that it was a family thing, whether it was a problem or not was something they're not entirely sure about.

Yang eyed Ruby for a moment, contemplating in her mind whether to answer truthfully or just skirt around the topic. It's not as though she was reluctant to open up to Blake and Weiss. On the contrary, she _wanted_ to be more open with them (especially with Blake) so that, hopefully, they would be too.

What made Yang hesitate was the fact that she still feels guilty and, understandably, ashamed of a certain moment in her past concerning her and Ruby.

After a few seconds of silence, Weiss stood from her chair and called out to Blake. "Blake? Want to get something light to eat?"

Blake looked up from 'reading' her book to give Weiss a look, pointedly avoiding eye contact from Ruby and Yang—though even through her peripheral vision, she saw them looking at both her and Weiss.

 _"So she wants to give the sisters space. I was expecting her to want to stay to butt in once she finds an opportune moment but this is fine, if leaving would give the sisters the chance to talk things out without holding back, then I won't mind."_

"Sure," Blake said with a nod, already dropping down the window sill as she threw her book at her bed.

As she made her way closer to Weiss, she was stopped by a voice from her leader.

"Are you guys really hungry?"

Blake turned, followed by Weiss removing her hand from the doorknob. There they saw Ruby smiling at them with a knowing look. Blake shared a look with Weiss before they answered at the same time.

"Ye-"

"No."

Weiss quickly gave Blake a sort of angry wide-eyed look, questioning Blake's decisions with a sideways cock of her head and pursed lips. Luckily for her, Blake heard her silent question loud and clear.

 _"What are you doing!?"_ Blake thought and she could almost hear Weiss' voice in her mind.

Blake returned the look with a neutral look before looking back to Ruby, then Yang.

"No, we're not really hungry."

Ruby smiled a little wider, patting the space on Weiss' bed beside her. "Then please stay."

"Are you sure?" asked Blake, eyeing Yang with concern.

Yang saw the look Blake gave her and she felt a little warm inside at the idea that she was openly worried about her even if it was just within the private confines of their dorm room. Blake rarely expressed these things, but that didn't mean she didn't feel or show them in one way or another, so whenever Yang saw Blake doing it, she always found herself wanting to find out how much more Blake could express.

Smiling to herself, Yang responded. "Yeah, it's fine. You're bound to hear it sooner or later anyway. What's it being a little earlier than expected, right?"

Blake shared a look with Weiss who was still a little miffed but nonetheless relenting. With a huff of breath, Weiss strode over to sit by Ruby's side while Blake sat on Ruby's other side as well, facing Yang who sat atop her bed.

Yang shifted in place, feeling somewhat uncomfortable at the idea of spilling out her life's biggest regret despite how much she saw Blake and Weiss as her closest friends already. She looked to Ruby and found her giving her an encouraging look.

She pursed her lips as she glanced out the window with a scratch of her head.

"So, you see... this is a story from waaay back. It's nothing fancy, it's just..."

* * *

 _Back when I was a little girl, it was just me and Ruby in a cozy little home in Patch—just off the coast of Vale. Dad was around, yeah, but he's a teacher at Signal. And a teacher's life is always busy especially when you're working for a public school like Signal Academy._

 _We also had a mom that was a Huntress._

 _Yeah, 'was'._

 _I remember her being the most awesome supermom ever. Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters._

 _But... one day, she went out on a mission and never returned._

 _And when we heard the news, Dad was really, really, really torn up, understandably. He was barely functioning at all and the only thing that remotely gave him any semblance of comfort was alcohol. We also had Uncle Qrow but we only had him around a few times because he's a Huntsman too. He's always away on missions._

 _So, basically, it was up to me to take care of Ruby. She doesn't remember much, but that's fine. She was a little too young to remember much. Anyway, so..._

 _One day, while Dad was drunk on the couch and I was tidying up the place, I found an old photo on the coffee table in the living room where Dad was sleeping in. It got me curious, so I picked it up not knowing what to expect._

 _It was a photo of four people._

 _A lady in a white cloak—it was pretty obvious to me that it was Mom. She's the only person I know aside from Ruby that wore a cloak nearly all the time._

 _Next to her was Dad._

 _Next to him was a tall woman with raven black hair just like yours, Blake. But hers was a little more wild like mine._

 _And lastly, Uncle Qrow._

 _I wondered who that lady in the middle was; the one between Dad and Uncle Qrow._

 _While I was doing that, Dad woke up all groggy-looking and then saw that I was holding the photo. Immediately he snatched it out of my hands and yelled at me, telling me to go to my room and to never touch that photo ever again._

 _I couldn't understand why. Why did he have to scream at me? I was so angry but I was also very scared. I've never seen Dad blow up like that at me. He's usually so patient and caring towards us even if a little mischievous._

 _So... I ran._

 _Up to my room and shut the door, trembling and hiding underneath my bed covers._

 _I remember sleeping afraid that night._

 _Afraid that the man in the living room wasn't my father anymore._

 _After a few days, Uncle Qrow came home and they were both drinking at the porch, talking about me seeing the photo. I remember Dad feeling guilty that he yelled at me and scared me, asking Uncle Qrow how he could make it up to not only me but also for Ruby because he finally realized that he'd been neglecting us for a while._

 _It made me happy that Dad was still Dad after all but what they talked about next just…_

 _It just shook my world._

 _My dad had another woman that he lost before Mom, before Summer Rose._

 _And that other woman was my real mom._

 _Can you believe it? All that time the reason I thought Ruby and I barely look alike was because I took after Dad while Ruby took after Mom._

 _My first thought was that I was happy._

 _I thought, if I had another Mom, then we can just have her come back. That way, even with Mom (Summer) gone, we wouldn't feel as lonely._

 _I know how weird that sounds but, in all honesty, Ruby was everything to me at the time and I only cared for myself second._

 _But then, it hit me. Why wasn't she there in the first place?_

 _Did I do something wrong that I don't remember anymore? Does she hate me?_

 _I wanted- no, I **needed** to know._

 _It bugged me for days on end and secretly I've been thinking up ways to find her—to find my own birth mother. For my sake and for Ruby's sake, I would look for my mom._

 _After about a week or so, I decided that I will search for Mom on my own._

 _I waited for Dad to leave for work so I could take his picture. I wanted to go alone but that would mean leaving Ruby all alone. So, I brought her with me. I put sleeping little Ruby in a wagon and walked off into the Grimm-infested forests of patch following a trail leading to Oum knows where._

 _I walked and walked._

 _Walked and walked._

 _Until my feet bled and my breathing became ragged._

 _My grip on Ruby's wagon was loosening after hours of dragging it. My hand felt numb and so did my legs. I could hardly breathe properly anymore with how tired I was but I still marched on. I remember questioning myself why I was making myself go through it. Looking back, everything I did was clearly stupid. But I still went through with it because, even now, this intense feeling of wanting to see my mom—my real mom—was so strong that I couldn't take it out of my mind._

 _I want to see her._

 _I want to meet her._

 _I want to talk to her._

 _So I could finally learn what her reason was for going away for so long._

 _Did I do something wrong that I couldn't remember anymore? Does she hate me?_

 _Doesn't she know who I am?_

 _ **Does she even know I exist?**_

 _So... there I was—a kid, tired and beaten with nothing but a vague, fragile hope carrying her on._

 _After some time, I found an abandoned shack. It was old and crumbling, but I didn't care, I reached my destination—or so I hoped. With renewed energy, I pumped myself up, urging my feet onward while dragging Ruby behind me. Luckily she was still asleep, because even before I could take a step forward, there was a rustling in the bushes._

 _I was scared shitless!_

 _I was already so damned tired, tempted to just pass out as soon as I walked through the door with Ruby in tow, but then I saw baleful yellows glowing between the leaves and tree trunks that surrounded us._

 _I felt so goddamn hopeless and stupid!_

 _It was all my fault._

 _Ruby was gonna die and it was gonna be my fault._

 _I raised my arms and closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable with the last thing I saw being the jaws of a Beowolf. I waited seconds, then a minute passed, and nothing happened._

 _Not to me at least._

 _I opened my eyes, scared and wary but still curious. I saw a tattered black and red cape billowing in front of me—it was our Uncle Qrow._

 _He saved us._

 _He saved me and Ruby._

 _Knowing that he was there, protecting us, watching over us, all the tension in my body disappeared. All the adrenaline from being scared brainless driven away. I passed out where I stood, or so Uncle Qrow told me._

* * *

"I woke up the next day covered in cuts and bruises under tight bandages. I saw Dad sleeping next to my bed and I felt Ruby sleeping next to me, hugging my arm tightly. It hurt but, y'know... who was I to complain, right?"

Yang smiled a pitiful smile. She played with her fingers as she stared at her bed covers, though her mind was obviously elsewhere. She hung her head sideways and shrugged, brushing her hair up with a hand to reveal more of her face in an attempt to feel at least a little less uncomfortable than she already was.

She felt deeply ashamed as she spilled everything for her teammates. Enough to almost make her want to cry—but she didn't.

"Dad woke up shortly after I did and the first thing he did was hold me close until I couldn't breathe. I was so scared of what would happen next. I expected an earful, I expected him getting angry and that he would definitely let me know how worried he was."

Ruby sat quietly as she listened to the story she already knew. Blake, too, listened, though unlike the look of deep regretful longing that Ruby wore, she held a nearly crumbling poker face up. Weiss looked the most uncomfortable as they listened—arms crossed, lips pursed, and her eyes cast aside—though it was clear to anybody that her attention was entirely focused on Yang's story.

"I expected getting grounded for, like, a month or something." Yang chuckled, though any semblance of humor couldn't be found in it. "That it was gonna be the end of me, that, if the Beowolf hadn't killed me, it would be Dad doing it instead. But no." She cast an awkward glance towards everyone, noting each and everyone's reactions. "Instead," She sighed, remembering the look her Dad gave her after releasing her from his bear hug. "he _apologized_."

The shocked look on Blake and Weiss' faces was to be expected. For the first time since she told her story, Blake finally had a reaction, and Weiss finally looked at her again.

"I know, right?" Yang huffed, smiling sardonically at herself. "I did everyone wrong and _he_ apologized to _me_." Her arms were spread as if to emphasize the absurdity of her father's actions. "After leaving home without permission, after nearly dying, and after getting Ruby nearly killed, he _apologized_ to me. He gave me absolutely no punishment and doted on us instead. He said he was sorry for neglecting us for so long. For keeping everything a secret. For not talking to us when he should have even if we were young and likely wouldn't have understood everything. He kept apologizing for so many things because _my_ wrongdoings made him feel that he was a failure of a father."

Yang sniffled, tilting her head up, blinking back unshed tears as she felt heat building up at the corner of her eyes. "After that, he promised that ' _from now on, family comes first_ '." She cast her gaze down in nostalgia, wiping a precious tear away before it had the chance to run down her fair cheek. "And true to his word, we always did come first. He dedicated most of his time to the two of us. We were nearly spoiled rotten and definitely would have been if it weren't for Uncle Qrow talking some sense into him through it all."

Yang clenched her fists as she hid her face behind them in frustration and shame. "Can you believe that? I should have been punished for it! I should've been grounded, I should've been smacked in the ass, I shouldn't have been given a chance to become a Huntress! I don't deserve to be here! Ruby should be hating me! Dad should disown me! I should've just—!"

"Yang!" Ruby called loudly, a worried look over her face as she stood from Weiss' bed.

Yang gave Ruby a look before looking away in guilt. "Sorry, Rubes," she said, wiping her nose with her thumb. "Anyway!" She perked up, forcing a smile on her face. "I felt guilter and guiltier after every kind look they sent my way that I sorta just barely stopped functioning." She shook her head dismissively while avoiding her teammates' eyes. "Just know that I went and did some stuff I later regret and it was Dad and Ruby again who came to save me. They convinced me that if I'm so guilty, I should just become the best person I can be—for all our sakes."

Silence draped over the room as everyone, even Ruby, took Yang's words to stir in their thoughts.

Ruby didn't think Yang still carried that much guilt with her. She understood that Yang may still feel guilty, yes, but only for a little bit. Because that was inevitable—you don't just get over something like that when you go through it as a child, Uncle Qrow made sure she understood that. But she didn't realize that her dear sister was still beating herself up that hard over it.

Blake had a lot going on in her mind despite the stoic look on her face but the most impactful thought that recurred in her mind as she listened and took everything in was that the Sun-like partner of hers was so much more than meets the eye. And that she was quite the actress to be able to hide it all in her daily life.

Weiss felt ashamed for thinking of Yang as a simple bumbling fool. She liked Yang, especially after spending weeks together with her under one roof, but her initial opinion of the girl as a simple-minded girl never truly went away. Sure, she realized that she was actually quite sensitive and considerate of the people around her—she couldn't count the number of times Yang made her feel like she belonged in the group despite her icy demeanor even if most of them were in the form of lighthearted teasings—but with the way she usually acted, it was hard to believe she carried such a weight on her shoulders.

"Yang..." Ruby softly called. "We promised together, didn't we? That we'd be supporting each other through and through."

Yang looked down, unable to meet Ruby's gaze. "Sorry, Rubes. I just wanna get stronger so that kinda stuff doesn't happen anymore."

Ruby pouted, crossing her arms. "That's right! You better be!" she said, causing Yang to flinch a little.

Blake and Weiss were surprised with Ruby's choice of words, though, before they could speak out and question her, Ruby spoke again.

"Why didn't you tell us that you wanted to get strong that badly? We could've challenged Celeste together as a team!"

Surprised, Yang finally met Ruby again in the eyes, she paused to stare for a few seconds until she couldn't help a chuckle escape her—one that actually had humor in it. Confused by the chuckle, Blake and Weiss gave Yang a look as well and listened as Yang's chuckle became a little louder until they both got carried along, finding themselves smiling and giggling as well.

Ruby was confused, but she smiled nonetheless at her team having a good time after listening to something so heavy. "I don't really get why Celeste got mad when you challenged her like that but we could strategize now! And then we can ask Tiella for a serious fight as our prize for getting a tie in Patintero!"

Yang jumped off her bed, landing in front of Ruby. She held Ruby in a tight embrace, carrying her off the floor as she buried her face at Ruby's neck.

"Y-Yang!"

" _God,_ Ruby," Yang laughed the words out as tears threatened to spill out her eyes again. "I really don't deserve you—any of you."

Ruby paused for a second before she returned the hug. "Yeah, you do, dumb-dumb."

"I still don't think I do, dumb-dumb," Yang said. "But I'm still gonna try to be deserving of it," she said, placing Ruby down. "That's what you guys would want, right?"

"Yeah, but you should want it for yourself too, Yang." Ruby smiled, placing a reassuring hand on her sister's shoulder.

Blake and Weiss were content to simply watch the sisterly bond unfolding before them and were doing just that until a blinding purple light flashed through their window, forcing the girls to shut their eyes and look away, lest they lose their vision even if momentarily.

" _What the hell!?_ " Yang exclaimed.

Ruby and Yang covered their eyes with their forearms as they turned from the light—even through closed eyelids, they could feel the light seeping into their eyes. After a moment, they could feel the light fade away. They gingerly opened their eyes and warily looked behind them, and oddly enough, they all noted a feeling of being refreshed and healed after being enveloped in the warm light.

"What was that?" Ruby asked, more to herself.

She went to the window and peeked outside, searching for any signs of the bright light. After a bit, she found it, though it was much weaker than it had been.

"Guys! I think I found where it came from!"

Yang followed Ruby to peek out as well. "Yeah? Where is it?" She asked while searching the sky and horizon for it.

Blake and Weiss peeked as well, though it was already getting a little cramped with all four of them trying to stick their heads out the window. Ruby tried to grab Yang's attention by tapping her with her hand but unknowingly kept lightly hitting her in the face.

"Up there." Ruby pointed with her other hand.

"What?" Yang asked after grabbing Ruby's hand while trying to discern whichever direction Ruby was pointing to.

"The Grand Clocktower."

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I'm terribly sorry for disappearing for so long!_

 _I had a lot of things going on in the past few weeks and it's just been... exhausting, to say the least._

 _Admittedly, at least a full week of that time was spent mourning for KyoAni. We lost a lot of good people that day and it's just seriously depressing that I kept hearing 3 bad news after every good news I learn about. Luckily, the folks at KyoAni are strong—and just as a certain phrase that has long since been associated with them says: "KyoAni always finds a way."_

 _After that, there is The Progenitor, but if you're not reading it, then you don't have to worry about it._

 _There are others, of course, but those are things concerning my daily life outside of FFN, so unless it'll jeopardize me finishing my stories, you don't have to worry about it._

 _I'm also worried about whether this story is starting to get stale. Is it? Do you think it's getting stale?_

 _I feel like, despite myself knowing which direction I want to take it (I even have an ending I want to achieve with it in mind as I try to write every day), Lost Star has no direction with the way each chapter is going._

 _Also, do you think that I'm taking too long with the story (not with updates, but the pacing)?_

 _Should I focus more on the plot instead of the characters now?_

 _By the way, when we reach the start of V2, would you rather I upload the first chapter of it here or would you like me to post it up as a sequel fic?_

 _Are the characters OOC? Is Avatāra too strong? Am I handling their OP-ness correctly? Which characters would you like me to focus on? Which characters would you like to see more of?_

 _Your thoughts are always welcome and I'll always be happy to read them._

 _As for a Fem OC x Raven fic... I must decline. Sorry! I don't do requests for two reasons: I'm worried that I won't be able to fulfill your expectations and that I don't think I can write something I may not be interested in. And currently, Raven is a character I have plans for in Lost Star (yes, you may take that as me not following canon Raven, so you may expect her to be OOC) but that doesn't include anything like an OC x Raven ship._

 _Also, what I think of yellowjacket? I think that it's nice but the way it was handled in the main story was dogshit._

 _Bardel's love life is something I don't currently have plans for, but that may change as the story progresses. In case you're wondering, no, Bardel does not have romantic feelings for Lillianne. He just considers both her and Tiella very good friends despite the large difference in the way he interacts with them._

 _If you have more thoughts and comments on the matter, please don't hesitate to let me know!_

 _Anyway! Thank you for reading the latest chapter to Lost Star! I hope to see you in my next chapter._


	29. Chapter 29

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—!**_ "

What's happening to me!?

What is this!?

What am I seeing!?

Why am I seeing this!?

WHY AM I BEING SHOWN ALL OF THIS!?

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?

 _ **WHY!?**_

Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!?

I don't wanna see it anymore.

I don't wanna see it anymore.

I don't wanna see it anymore.

I don't wanna see it anymore.

I don't wanna see it anymore.

I don't wanna see it anymore.

I don't wanna see it anymore.

I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore. I don't wanna see it anymore.

 _I don't wanna see it anymore!_

 _I DON'T WANNA SEE IT ANYMORE!_

 _MAKE IT STOP._

 _IT HURTS, PLEASE._

 _PLEASE._

 _PLEASE._

 _PLEASE._

 _PLEASE._

 _PLEASE._

 _PLEASE._

 _PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE._

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—!**_ "

It's just too much...!

TOO MUCH!

TOO MUCH!

TOO MUCH!

TOO MUCH!

TOO MUCH!

TOO MUCH!

TOO MUCH!

TOO MUCH!

TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH!

 _ **MAKE IT GO AWAY!**_

 _ **PLEASE!**_

 _Please._

Just...

—take me instead.

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Please.

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* * *

"Lilly!? _LILLY!_ I'm here, Lilly! Lillianne!"

Tiella held Lilly tightly in her arms as she writhed and yelled in pain. Lilly's eyes were glowing brightly as she all but spasmed in complete agony — her body tensing as she squirmed all throughout. She was constantly reaching for her eyes as if to claw them out but Tiella embraced her from the front, making sure her hands couldn't go any higher.

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—!**_ "

"Lilly!" Tiella screamed in worry and irritation. "Lilly! Goddamnit! I'm still alive! I'm right here!"

They were at the Grand Clocktower just moments after their small rendezvous in the library. Ozpin had Professor Peach fetch them since none of them had scrolls to contact them with. Along the way, Peach explained that Ozpin wanted to personally unlock Lilly's and Bardel's Auras for them. There they found not only Ozpin and Glynda but also all the professors of Beacon Academy.

" _Ozpin!_ "

Tiella turned to him, her eyes burned with rage as she snarled at Ozpin, ready to just maul him had she not been holding Lilly. Her Aura flared a dangerous red — an indication of her emotions running rampant enough that it had manifested itself through her Aura.

She'd have let go already since all she got from Lilly were constant unrestrained kicks — and a kick from the girl that held nothing back meant that, even with the protection of Aura, she would feel the bruises coming — but she didn't. She can't rightly let go when her best friend was clearly in pain, even more so when she's experiencing such panic and hysteria.

" _What the fuck did you do!?_ "

This was the result.

* * *

Moving back to a few minutes ago, Lilly went up first and it was the oddest experience Ozpin had with unlocking someone's Aura in all his lifetimes.

At first, he attempted to unlock her Aura the usual way.

Alone and with his chant.

" _Altruism and Benevolence grant Perpetuity to the Soul._

 _In the face of Darkness, without a shadow of doubt, this shall bestow unto thee Indomitability._

 _With the strength of Eternity, I unlock thy Gilded Cage,_

 _And by my Soul, release thee._ "

His aura glowed a viridescent light, encapsulating all that was within the confines of his office. However, no matter how long he waited nor how hard he tried, there came no reaction from the girl called Lillianne. She simply waited with eyes shut and bated breath for what seemed to be nothing.

Lilly opened her eye to peek, noticing confused looks around her as she wondered what had happened. She gave herself a once-over — noting nothing, in particular, felt different.

"Was that it, Headmaster?" She smiled confusedly.

Ozpin smiled wryly. "Please, there's no need for titles."

Lilly gave him a look, her smile never fading. "If you say so."

"Yes, now," Ozpin cleared his throat. "to answer your question, no, that wasn't it."

"Something went wrong?"

"Yes," Ozpin nodded. "but the fault lies with me." He assured.

"I see." Lilly nodded, still a little unsure. "What do we do now? Should we try with Bardy first?" She asked, looking slightly to the side where Bardel was.

Bardel was sitting on one of the couches provided in the room while Tiella sat on top of its backrest. Seeing the look Lilly gave him, he shrugged, uncaring whether he was first or last. Tiella, on the other hand, thought aloud.

"Didn't he say before that your soul was like the fucking Sun? Maybe it's so massive that his soul in comparison is puny or some shit so he couldn't pull it off?"

Ozpin nodded with a smile. "That is not an impossibility. Nonetheless, we may simply try other ways — one way is to seek the aid of others to bolster myself for another attempt."

"Really!?" Lilly looked to Ozpin excitedly. "I don't think I've read anywhere that you can unlock someone's Aura through the help of multiple people!"

"I know a few tricks with Aura that very few know and even fewer can do. One of them is to see a person's Soul and the other is to collect others' Aura to add to my own temporarily."

Lilly's eyes gleamed, her expression brimming with curiosity. There's no doubt in anyone's mind that she will seek these hidden techniques out for herself even if she couldn't do it. Because whether she could learn and do the same thing or not is an entirely separate issue for Lillianne whose thirst for knowledge is bottomless and insatiable.

She could always teach what she'll learn to Tiella either way, after all.

"Which is why I called upon my colleagues here," Ozpin said with hand introducing his colleagues. "You've met the Deputy Headmistress and my assistant, Glynda Goodwitch."

Glynda simply fixed her glasses and curtly nodded in her direction. Then, a portly, mustachioed man stepped fort.

"Greetings! I am Peter Port, Professor of Grimm Studies," he stated jovially, bowing with a flourish. "It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Madame Lillianne."

A tall, spontaneous-looking, green-haired man stepped fort.

"Likewise!" He exclaimed with a finger up and another to fix his glasses. "I am Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck and I've been looking for an opportunity to meet with the person who fought our resident mercenary to a double knockout!" He zapped forward — with a speed akin to Ruby's Semblance — holding Lilly's hand into his own, his eyes gleaming through his glasses much like hers had been. "You _**must**_ explain to me how you were able to pull off such Aura-defying stunts when you had… _no Aura!_ "

Lilly smiled wryly, a little surprised by the man's enthusiasm. "Ahahaha.. ?"

Oobleck let go, facing an audience only he could see. "With your, Tiella's, and Mr. Armas's help, I just might be able to find out more about the secrets of the human body with and without Aura and perhaps link it to the unnatural strength that is normally found in Vacuo natives!"

Lilly tilted her head curiously while Bardel and Tiella looked as if they just can't even be bothered to breathe with how incredulous they felt after hearing Oobleck's words.

"Are you, by any chance, also a doctor studying human anatomy and Aura?" Lilly asked excitedly.

"No, my dear!" He replied, facing Lilly once again. "Even better!" He exclaimed with his finger held high. "I am both a Huntsman and a Historian!"

Lilly gasped slowly, her face lit up as if she just struck gold. Uncontrollably, she shook her fists up and down in excitement.

"Amazing!" She exclaimed, giving Tiella and Bardel her biggest smile. "Amazing, Tielle, Bardy! It's amazing! A Scholar of History is willing to work with me!"

Surprised, Oobleck was taken aback by the young girl sharing his enthusiasm. Normally, people would feel awkward when presented with his love of his work, rarely has he seen anyone not only happy to have met someone of his professions but also willing to partner themselves with him. Her friends, on the other hand, simply smiled in exasperation — they just _know_ that she'll come back to them talking about all sorts of things as soon as she's learned something.

It was Lilly's turn to hold Oobleck's hand in her own, eyes filled to the brim with genuine wonder in the world that he'd only seen from toddlers.

"We _must_ find time to speak at length, Doctor!" She beamed. "I have so many questions about the ancient civilizations found all across Remnant!" She turned her gaze towards the other professors. "Not just him, but all of you as well! Please! Tell me all that you know!"

Amused by Lilly's enthusiasm for the academe, a little girl with pink hair giggled lightly as she walked up to Lilly — literally looking up to her with a big smile on her face. "Well, I'm the last of the professors here. I know, I know, we're too few for a couple hundred students, right? I get ya. But the Headmaster's got these weird standards only he knows so there's only a few of us are teachin' here."

Lilly shut her eyes as she tightly pursed and bit her lower lip. Her fists were clenched and her posture was taut. Seeing their friend's reaction, Tiella and Bardel shared a look before shaking their heads. Tiella stood from sitting on the backrest of the couch and walked over to Lilly to place a hand over her shoulder.

There were no words exchanged but the message to Lilly was loud and clear.

 _"Don't even_ _ **think**_ _about it."_

Tiella smiled casually as she gave Lilly a few taps on the shoulder. Lilly stiffened at her touch for a bit, so she did her best to relax, which was obviously counter-productive, seeing as she was still moving rigidly.

Unperturbed by the lack of a vocal response and the weird communication ritual going on between Lilly and Tiella, Peach carried on. "I know we already met earlier but the name's Magnolia Peach, Professor of Dust Theories. I'm your go-to girl for all things Dust in this academy!" She saluted with a hand on her waist.

Lilly shrieked. "Tielle!"

"No."

"I haven't even said anything!" Lilly pouted.

"I know what you're gonna say. So, no. Don't you dare."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Fine!" Lilly crossed her arms and pouted. "Big meanie!" She stuck out her tongue.

Confused, Peach tilted her head cutely and Lilly could do nothing but clench her heart with her hand.

"What are you girls talking about? Does it concern me?" Peach asked curiously.

"Here's a tip: never let yourself be left alone with this girl," Tiella said with a wry grin.

Tiella earned a light slap on her elbow from Lilly as soon as she said it.

"Rude! You make me sound like a sexual predator when I'm far from it!" Lilly scowled.

Peach's eyes grew wide, her spine-tingling as her body tensed as if finally sensing the dangerous gleam in Lilly's eyes directed toward her.

"You're _this_ close," Tiella said, holding her fingers up as if pinching something in the air. "to being labeled as one though."

"Wanting to dress up cute girls in Victorian Era style clothing is _not_ a crime!"

 _"What is Victorian Era style clothing!?"_ Peach thought loudly in her mind.

"That _girl_ is at least six years older than you."

"I don't see how that's a problem, Tielle. Cuteness comes in all shapes and sizes!" Lilly spread her arms up and wide for emphasis. "Why, if you'd let me, I'd even dress you up too!"

"I'm about as cute as an ingrown nail." Tiella dismissed dryly.

"You believe I jest so why don't we hear out your beloved's honest thoughts?" Lilly grinned as she eyed Glynda.

Caught off guard by Lilly's unwarranted invitation to their conversation, she had to pause a little to remember what they'd been talking about. She adjusted her glasses to eye the now coy Tiella, noticing a faint redness in her cheeks as she appeared indifferent — Glynda's only clue that betrayed Tiella's front being the fact that she sent a few glances at her expectantly. She smiled internally before she cleared her throat and adopted her business mask.

"I agree with Ms. Lillianne."

The answer received a jolly laugh from Port, a few hums of agreement from Oobleck, and a teasing whistle from Peach.

"Glynda, please, call me Lilly. A friend of Tielle is a friend of mine too — even more so when you're her significant other."

Glynda let a small smile appear on her face. "Very well, Lilly."

"Can ya'll, like, _fuckin' not?_ " Tiella blushed a little brighter, wrapping her hair around her finger as she avoided eyes with Glynda. "So we can go back to unlocking Lilly's Aura? _Pretty fucking please?_ "

Everyone in the room had a wry smile over Tiella's response. It was a little weird to them how someone so rude and crass could still appear so cute.

Perhaps it is a trait possessed by any girl in love?

Lilly smiled sweetly as another fond memory was made for her to look back on in the future.

 _"I never saw her this happy back on Earth. Maybe..."_

She dispelled such thoughts from her mind with a light shake of her head, a morose smile lingering for a second before her regal facade replaced it — unbeknownst to all but Bardel.

"Alright, alright," Lilly said, garnering all attention back towards her. "Ozpin, if you don't mind. Can you try again before moving on to Bardy? I want to confirm something as well."

Ozpin gave him a curious brow. "Very well." He gestured for the other professors to stand beside him in front of Lilly. "Professors," He began. "if you would all be so kind as to transfer some of your Aura to me."

Each professor nodded their heads in acknowledgment of his order. They all focused on the energy found within them, flowing, circulating, until they directed it inward, then outward towards Ozpin. As he felt their Auras reach him, bolstering him to magnitudes he normally wouldn't be able to achieve on his own, he tried to unlock Lilly's Aura once again.

Lilly felt a small surge of energy that tried to enter her own — it felt like a trickle of rain plopping down a tank filled with water. She concentrated on the alien feeling of another's energy invading, besieging her own and willingly opened her gates for it to reach her core.

As Ozpin said his chant, he finally felt a connection with the girl and was almost compelled to cut it as soon as he did when he and the other professors felt an overwhelming pressure almost suffocate them.

 _"Is this why Professor Ozpin wanted our help!? This young lass is incredible!"_

Tiella and Bardel watched in awe and anxiousness as Ozpin's viridescent glow magnified until they were forced to turn away and cover their eyelids when Lilly's Aura finally reacted.

Lillianne's eyes shone brightly as her Aura almost instantly devoured Ozpin's light. The effects of it were already apparent when her body went taut, reflexively pulling her posture back as she sat on her wheelchair, her neck brace snapping off from the force of the motion — her Aura's passive healing had already recovered most of her injuries in the same instant.

At that point, Lillianne was already standing, albeit unconsciously. Her Aura's shine had become so bright that it was as if the day had renewed with the Sun now in the middle of Beacon Academy — spreading its healing effects on all that lived it touched. Exhausted students gained a second wind, those who'd been in pain after a day's training, as well as those who'd just finished a grueling sparring session felt rejuvenated — even the slowly withering flowers and leaves regained their vivid colors as they swayed in the wind.

The energy she'd been releasing suddenly swirled violently — pulling itself inward as it returned to her, its vessel — physically affecting the air in the room like a typhoon in a box. Everyone held on to something for anchorage lest they be pulled in by the maelstrom of Lillianne's cataclysmic Aura.

Ozpin watched wide-eyed as Lillianne hovered in the air, glaring at him with a pair of fiery baleful purple. Her hair billowed violently as she slowly raised her finger to point him.

She opened her mouth to speak and it surprised everyone in the room when the voice they heard wasn't of the Lillianne they knew. It was instead the voice of an amalgamation of thousands, nay, _millions_ — all synchronized, echoing ominously within the confines of Ozpin's tower and reverberating in every corner of their minds.

 _ **"SHE IS NOT READY."**_

All that heard the voices were forced to kneel as they clutched their heads in agony.

 _ **"YOUR MEDDLING HAS UNLEASHED THE GIFTS WE GRANTED OUR CHOSEN PREMATURELY.**_

 _ **THIS ACT CANNOT BE REVERSED.**_

 _ **SHE NOW HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO FEEL THE FULL WEIGHT OF HER BLESSINGS, CRUSHING HER UNTIL SHE'S NO LONGER HERSELF.**_

 _ **AND IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT."**_

Tiella grit her teeth and tried to look up, " _What the fuck is ha—_ " then her head was forced down by an unknown power, her face slamming into the floor, leaving her unconscious as cracks firmed and webbed underneath her — blood seeping into the cracks.

 _ **"SILENCE, CHOSEN OF ABSOLUTE EVIL!**_

 _ **THE ONLY REASON YOU HAVE GONE UNPURGED ALL THIS TIME IS DUE TO OUR CHOSEN'S ATTACHMENT TO YOU!"**_

Lillianne, or whatever was possessing her, turned in the air to face the unconscious girl.

 _ **"MARK OUR WORDS, COME THE DAY OF RECKONING, YOU WILL DIE BY OUR CHOSEN'S HAND.**_

 _ **SUCH IS YOUR DESTINY.**_

 _ **SUCH IS YOUR FATE.**_

 _ **SUCH IS YOUR CURSE."**_

Without looking away from Tiella, Lillianne's possessors raised her hand to the side and immediately, Ozpin was pulled to her hand. Her possessors gripped Ozpin's neck, choking the air out of him as they slowly moved Their head to meet Ozpin's terrified gaze.

 _ **"FOR THE SIN AGAINST OUR CHOSEN, SCHEMING FOR YOUR PERSONAL GAIN.**_

 _ **YOU, SCHEMER AND PROPHET OF FALSEHOODS, ARE HEREBY SENTENCED TO ETERNAL DEATH BY DECREE OF OUR ELDER GODS."**_

Ozpin could do nothing against the Entity before him even as he pushed his Aura to the limit, just barely hanging on to breathe.

 _"I knew it..! I was right! She's being favored by multiple Gods! And now, for some reason, I've angered them!"_

Lillianne's free hand was held up, palm facing the sky, as a gigantic golden spear that crackled with intense fire and lightning, shining like the Sun, was conjured.

 _ **"FOR YOUR FIRST DEATH, A 'GIFT' FROM INDRA HIMSELF — THE SPEAR OF PROMISED VICTORY."**_

The residual heat was enough to ignite the furniture within the room and melt whatever was made of metal. Ozpin grit his teeth and braced himself, never taking his eyes away from the Entity before him. The hand that held the holy spear moved back before it was shot forward aiming for his heart.

 _ **"BRAHMASTRA REPLICA!"**_

It never came, however. What happened instead was that he was unceremoniously dropped to the floor gasping for air. When he looked up, he found Bardel standing in front of him, confronting the amalgamation of Gods by himself.

Bardel looked furious — his skin glowed a faint reddish hue and Ozpin couldn't see it from behind but his eyes were burning a baleful green too. Steam was rising out of Bardel as heat radiated off of him as well.

He held the Entity's forearm, stopping the attack, saving not only Ozpin but also everybody else that was within Vale's vicinity whether it was the city or the kingdom, it was still up to be seen.

" _What the fuck do you think you're doing with Lilly!?_ " Bardel roared, his grip on the Entity's forearm tightening with all his might and yet, all that did was naught.

He pulled his other hand back and it felt as if another typhoon arrived only to disappear just as quickly. But all who saw Bardel's strength knew that the short lull of the moment was simply the calm before the storm.

He clenched his fist and threw it forward, the blast that followed resulted in the roof being blown into sky-high — or so it would have been had the Entity not stopped his punch midway with a _finger_.

 _ **"AH, THE BULL DEMON KING'S CHOSEN."**_

Bardel's mind an ears throbbed painfully, like it was being jackhammered repeatedly from all sides.

Amusement was heard in the entity's voice. Bardel tried to push his fist forward but Their finger remained unmovable. All the energy that Bardel collected and was about to release had dissipated the moment his fist made contact with Their finger.

And people thought Bardel's strength was absurd.

 _ **"WE WERE RIGHT TO CHOOSE YOU AS OUR CHOSEN'S GUARD DOG."**_

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO THE FUCK YOU ARE!"

The Entity pushed Bardel's fist effortlessly, staggering him back slightly off balance. They struck Bardel six times in less than a second starting from his chest three times then his chin, cheek and face — each hit carrying enough force to make him feel dizzy and disoriented.

They then let the golden spear They summoned to vanish into thin air and pulled Bardel closer with ease despite his best efforts to fight and pull back.

As Bardel was being pulled in to an arm's length, the Entity waved Their open palm around Their head like some form of martial art before it was thrust out at a blinding speed, hitting him hard in the chest — the impact reverberating within the office with such force that the tower trembled.

The blow knocked all the air out of his lungs as he was sent flying towards the tower's large glass window, causing it to shatter and rain its shards down outside the building. He crashed outside, landing a crater in the middle of the garden courtyard as if he was a meteor that burst out of the Grand Clocktower and bled out of his mouth — fighting to stay conscious as all he could do was glare in return.

With Bardel momentarily incapacitated, the Entity glanced around. Their divine eyes judged what was left of Their minor altercation. Their gaze landed on the schemer and false prophet, noting the fearful yet defiant look in his eyes. And lastly, Their gaze fell upon the unconscious girl, her head lying face down in a pool of her own blood.

As much as They loathed it, They hadn't much strength left to stay and summon more of Their power — strength not from Them, but from Their Chosen, Lillianne.

They gave each mortal one last glance until They floated towards the dying girl. Judging that the schemer can receive his comeuppance at a later time, They chose to save the girl Their Chosen held dear.

They loathed it but They have no choice but to respect Their Chosen's wishes — because despite the possible threat that Absolute Evil's Chosen presented, They understood that currently, there was nothing _They_ could do against _Him_.

They gritted Their teeth and clenched Their fists — it would be so easy to just leave her be and let her die of blood loss.

But the consequences of her dying a premature death was simply too heavy.

And so, They chose.

Despite the _hatred_ and _wrath_ They felt for even _thinking_ of helping His Chosen, they chose to restore the girl's health as their last act before finally leaving Lillianne's body.

With a flash of gentle, soothing light, Tiella's wounds healed completely and not even a moment later, she blinked her eyes open.

 _ **"THE THREE OF YOU ARE YET COMPLETE.**_

 _ **SOON, YOU SHALL REUNITE WITH THE CHOSEN OF THE LIONESS."**_

Tiella groggily tried to stand with wobbly arms and legs as she still felt lightheaded. The last thing she saw before her vision cleared was Lillianne floating over her before falling back to the ground limply with a thud — quickly followed by the dispersal of the torrent of energy that had kept everyone's heads down.

With the maelstrom of Soul energy gone and the throbbing voice in their heads disappeared, the Professors deemed it safe to peek and was shocked to see the state of Ozpin's office.

Furniture was thrown everywhere as they burned, glass shards scattered both within the room and outside the building, deep cracks on the floor and a pool of blood were found where Tiella was sitting cross-legged on.

Glynda panicked when she saw a blood-covered Tiella, noting her white clothes drenched with fresh blood, along with her face and hair, and yet, Tiella seemed fine. She quickly stood and ran towards her.

"Tiella!"

Tiella's first reaction was to cringe at the sound, surprised by the sudden loud voice that came looking for her. She looked up and the displeasure she felt disappeared as soon as she saw the concerned look Glynda was giving her as she knelt on the ground in front of her.

"You're bleeding!"

" _Was_." Tiella corrected with a finger held up. " _Was_ bleeding. It's stopped now, somehow," she said while wiping the blood off her face, quite unsure how she was healed all of a sudden.

"Is all that blood yours?" Glynda asked, her concern diminished knowing Tiella was fine though anxiety over the unknown events that happened remained.

She wasn't even sure what actually happened. She was too preoccupied with trying to stay sane under both the pressure that choked her and the voices that rang in her mind.

"Probably mine." Tiella guessed.

"You're not sure?"

"Look," Tiella shook her head dismissively as she stood from the ground. "I don't understand what happened either but I can worry about whose blood this is later. Where's Lilly?" She asked, her eyes already darting the room for Lilly's form.

Glynda was flabbergasted by Tiella's lack of concern over herself especially considering she's the one covered in blood while sitting next to a puddle of it.

Instantly, she found Lilly laying on the floor just a few feet from her. She quickly walked up to her and held her in her arms.

"Lilly? Lilly!" She checked her vital signs and found that she was breathing weakly, though, other than that, she was mostly fine. Confused, even more, she shook her head in disbelief. "What the hell happened?"

There was a thud behind her, causing her to turn her head to see what was up. There she saw Bardel standing from a squat from where the windows were with burn marks of varying degrees all over his body with blood dripping from his mouth.

"Bardy, do you know what happened?"

Bardel gave her an irked glare, incensed that he could do nothing before whatever the fuck that possessed Lilly disappeared.

"I don't know," He said dismissively.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Tiella asked, already irate.

Bardel clicked his tongue and threw his hand up in exasperation. "How the _fuck_ do you explain Lilly being possessed and nearly killing all of us while spouting some bullshit about _chosen ones_ , huh!?"

Temper rising, Tiella tried to calm down as she glared at Bardel for a second. "What the fuck happened to you then?"

"I got my ass kicked."

Tiella clicked her tongue in irritation at the useless information she just heard. "What else is fucking new?"

"I'm not in the mood for your goddamn fucking sass right now, bitch." Bardel gritted his teeth in anger.

"You think I'm still fucking around!?" Tiella yelled back. "You're the one who's acting like a sassy little bitch! Answer the damn question! _What the fuck happened to you!?_ "

"Tiella!" Glynda cut in, placing a placating hand over Tiella's shoulder. "Yelling won't help right now."

"Well, it's the only thing helping me calm down and think!" Tiella stood, shaking Glynda's hand off as she carried Lilly over to one of the overturned couches that had stopped burning.

She didn't see the hurt in Glynda's eyes as she walked away and kicked the couch up. It spun in the air once before landing right-side up — placing Lilly on it for her to lie down on.

Bardel cocked his head sideways in exasperation, hands on his waists as he paced the floor in an attempt to calm himself for a few seconds, earning another click of the tongue from Tiella. He spat out blood and let out a breath before finally speaking. "Lilly, or whatever the fuck possessed her knocked you out, right?"

"Yeah, I remember." Tiella glared.

"Well, she pulled Ozpin up like she's using Telekenises too and choked him after that." Bardel pointed at Ozpin with a thumb. "Lilly summoned this bigass golden spear and it was letting out some intense fire and lightning."

Every person in the room looked at him in disbelief except for Ozpin and Tiella.

"And?" Tiella queried further, trying to make sense of what she'd heard so far.

"I could feel it in my bones, in every fucking fiber of my being." Bardel pursed his trembling lips, remembering the anger he felt for being unable to do anything against Lilly's possessor. "The spear would've killed all of us and then some. So I stepped in before it was used. I tried to fight back using all my strength but she stopped my punch with _a fucking finger_."

Bardel watched Tiella for a few, waiting for a reaction. When none came, he continued. "After that, I got the air knocked out of my lungs and was sent crashing down there," he pointed outside with a thumb nonchalantly, " _like a fucking meteorite._ "

"Were you on Critical?"

"Still am."

"Goddamnit, this is getting worse and worse by the second." Tiella cursed softly to herself. "Glynda, where's the nearest sea in this continent? One where there aren't any people for miles around?"

Glynda thought over the question for a bit with a hand on her chin. "The southeast coast at the edge of the continent. It's part of the badlands where it's still part of the continent but far away from the kingdom's sphere of influence, so there's a very high chance that there aren't any nearby human civilizations out there considering the high concentration of Alpha and Elder Grimm. Why?"

"Bardy needs a release," Tiella answered quickly. "Which way is that from here?"

Confused, Glynda tilted her head for a bit as she thought over the question. Before she could answer, however, Oobleck did it for her.

"It's that way," He said, standing near the shattered window pointing towards the general direction of the coast.

"Okay." Tiella nodded. "Bardy, go release your energy there. Don't come back until you're done."

It was Bardel's turn to click his tongue in irritation. He turned, preparing to jump away. "Fine."

Tiella gave Oobleck a look. "Professor, I need you to get on an airship and follow him there and _fast_. Keep an eye out for him so that you can just carry him back when he's finished — he'll probably pass out or something. If not, he might get lost on the way back if he's alone."

Oobleck was about to question the need to do that among other things but Tiella answered before he could even voice them.

"Right now, he's in a state where one wrong move could destroy Beacon Academy. He's in control right now but he's a clumsy fuck so it's better for him to release his pent-up energy somewhere far from human civilization. And I asked you to follow him instead of leading him because I'm pretty sure he's gonna jump his way to get there."

"Jump?"

As if on cue, a quake happened followed by a blast of wind. The tower shook slightly from the tremor and it caused everyone to look in the direction of the epicenter. There, they saw a tiny speck moving far away from them that was going in the direction of the southeast coast and Bardel was nowhere to be found.

" _Go_ before you lose sight of him!" Tiella ordered. "If you do, just look for explosions, he'll be there."

Oobleck hung his mouth in disbelief at the sight but Tiella's command shook him from it, prompting him to move. "Immediately!"

He ran towards the elevator to see if it was still working. Unfortunately, a stray piece of furniture jammed into the buttons, so it was unlikely to be usable. In a heartbeat, he ran towards the window where the wind bellowed.

He looked down to see if he could make the jump, which he was confident that he could. Before he did, he gave Tiella one last look. "Tiella," he called out while adjusting his glasses.

"What is it?"

"Please explain things over with all of us when we get back."

Wordlessly, Tiella nodded her head and that was all Oobleck needed before he jumped down and headed for the airship terminals.

Tiella looked around again, taking in the sight of Ozpin's destroyed office. Speaking of the man, she found him still sitting on the floor looking quite out of it. Tiella pursed her lips in thought as she walked towards Glynda.

"Glynda," Tiella placed a hand on her shoulders. "I need you to calm the students down. Just think of something, I'm sure you're used to this kinda thing. Bring whoever you need to bring with you if you have to. Same with the media if they get nosey."

Glynda worriedly looked Tiella in the eyes before casting her glance towards everyone else left in the room. After a bit, she nodded her head and walked towards the window.

"Very well. I'll handle the students."

"Thanks." Tiella smiled, albeit tiredly.

Glynda nodded, then looked to Peach. "Professor Peach, if you could come with me please."

Peach, who'd been staying silent all throughout, nodded her head and stood beside Glynda. Before they could jump down, Tiella called out.

"Glynda?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, that was dumb," Tiella said, shame heard in her voice.

Glynda smiled. "We're in an emergency situation, we're all bound to feel hotheaded, which is why it's most important to remain calm."

"Yeah."

Without any more words to exchange, they nodded at each other before Glynda and Peach jumped down, leaving only Ozpin, Tiella, Port, and Lilly.

Tiella walked towards Ozpin with a steady gait, eyes hard as she eyed the man.

"Ozpin."

Hearing his name being called, Ozpin blankly looked towards the source.

"I'm trying to be calm right now," Tiella spoke with visible and audible restraint. "So you'll tell me what you know, okay?" She said, more of a threat.

Port barged in between them, protectively covering Ozpin from Tiella. "Dear lass, why don't we sit down on something first?"

 _"She's truly something else to be having the gall to threaten Ozpin. Just who is this young lass?"_

Tiella gave Port a nonplussed look before huffing in vague agreement. She stood and kicked another overturned couch up, sitting on it before it had even balanced itself. Using her weight, she guided the couch's spin in the air for it to stand right-side-up, slamming her boots down the charred floor.

"There, now tell me what you know, Ozpin."

* * *

Just outside the city of Vale, a lone airship flew by.

 _"Just where could that boy have gone to so quickly?"_

Bartholomew Oobleck drove an airship in search of the boy he was asked to keep an eye on. Below where the see of trees obscured the view of the ground, he could see nothing but birds startled by the sound of his airship's engine.

 _"Tiella said to follow the explosions, does that mean that Mr. Armas has already gone far ahead of me for me to not notice him anymore? What incredible strength!"_

Just as he let his eyes wander around and about, he saw smoke from just a little ways beyond the horizon.

 _"That must be him!"_

Immediately, he sped up, not letting go of the chance to quickly tail his target. After about a minute, he finally saw a row of dust clouds almost equally distant from the last.

 _"Incredible — to be able to jump so far and with so little effort. With strength and endurance like his, a normal bullhead like this would only slow him down if he's ever in a hurry."_

He followed the row of dust clouds for the next few minutes until finally, he saw the sea by the horizon. He sped up once more to catch up, only to stop abruptly as soon as he saw the sea rise hundreds of feet into the air from another explosion.

 _"That just now was comparable to a 1 kiloton bomb! Tiella was not exaggerating when she said that one wrong move would end up in Beacon Academy getting destroyed!"_

Shocked and awed, he had half a mind to set his airship to stop in the air as he watched and waited for another explosion to happen.

Lo and behold, an explosion he waited for, so an explosion came. He observed the shape of the explosion to find out its source in an attempt to pinpoint Bardel's exact location.

 _"There he is, by the shore. I'm afraid I can only watch from here if I wish to stay a safe distance away."_

Correct with his educated guess, he truly was safe from where he was. By simply eye-balling the distance between him and Bardel, he estimated at least a kilometer between them. And guessing further, the explosions seemed to happen from over a hundred kilometers away from the shore at the very least.

Had he been a little closer, he guessed that he'd most certainly feel stronger shockwaves coming from the blasts. He took this opportunity to observe and gather data about the boy. He took out his scroll and started recording as he watched each explosion unfold while taking down notes from a little notebook from his chest pocket.

 _"Truly incredible! As if he is an army of his own! The strength of his punches is reminiscent of the bombs used in the Great War! How come I've never heard of such strength? Surely, if someone so strong appeared, he'd make waves within the Huntsman community, even if he was a mercenary like Tiella."_

As he took notes, he was stunned speechless once again the moment he saw the sea split apart up until the wave hit a rock from a few hundred meters away, causing it to explode and shrapnel all over the sea in a violent rain of sharp stones and boulders.

 _"Hold on, I remember hearing of a terrorist attack in Vacuo very recently and that there were two suspects. One male and one female — both of which were reported to have escaped into the desert leading to the forest between Vale and Vacuo. Vacuo officials made an attempt to follow them, but they lost track of them even though it had only been hours since they escaped — as if they'd disappeared within the desert, leaving no trace behind. Could they be...?"_

While lost in his musings and info-gathering, a thought passed by his mind.

 _"If he's this powerful and yet he still lost, what does that make of the girl Lillianne, or rather, her alleged possessors?"_

" _GOD DAMN IT!_ "

Surprised, Oobleck watched Bardel as he summoned a serious amount of energy, enough that any nearby animals — even the Grimm — felt the need to escape from the scene.

 _"It was just like that time with that fucking monster!"_

Bardel thought as he built up more of his rage, the motivation to punch the smug look away on the Entity's face (even though it had been Lillianne's) rising even higher the more he remembered and compared _It_ from the other monster he'd faced before.

 _"I couldn't fucking do anything!"_

His skin glowed a faint red while steam rolled off his skin, the massive amount of energy he was summoning was slowly becoming unbearable even for him that it had manifested itself through heat.

He pulled back his clenched fist and glared at the sky...

"Tsar..."

...and thrust his fist upwards, or so he would have had it not been for the whirlpool that caught his attention. The whirlpool grew larger and larger until one, two, four... eight draconic heads peeked out of it, invited by the _oh, so enticing_ hateful wrath of the boy by the shore.

The heads rose further, moving closer and closer towards the shore at demonic speed until it had reached shallow enough waters to reveal the creatures as not many, but _one_. Eight dragon heads converging at one gigantic body.

Its serpentine heads were protected by alabaster bone armor, spikes jutting out at various lengths and sizes like horns, traveling down the back of its elongated neck until it got to its back where there were even larger spikes — as if crags in the sea. Its body was an incoherent mass of black blob with more bone armor spiking out of it — whether it had flippers or webbed feet was unknown as it still hadn't completely emerged from the waters.

From the airship, Oobleck watched in growing fear as he recognized the gigantic sea Grimm rising out of the water.

 _"Could it be...!? The Orochi of legends...! I must get to him and escape quick!"_

The creature stopped before it could reach the shore and pulled all its heads back as it conjured an inferno in each jaw, all charging up to fire at the boy that it had considered a mighty threat.

After living for so long, it had gained enough knowledge and experience to be able to tell apart which was fodder and which was dangerous to itself. And to it, the boy by the shore who as summoning strength it had never seen the likes of in all its centuries was the most dangerous it had ever encountered.

Bardel, however, didn't know what it was, but to him, it was the perfect target to release all his pent-up rage at.

So, he grinned, clenched his butt, put his right foot back and threw his punch.

"... _BOMBA!_ "

The following shockwave was unlike anything he'd been letting out before.

The shockwave pulsed once, but it was more than enough to topple nearby trees — even uprooting the nearest ones from him — and pushed the sea back to reveal the seabed for up to a few dozen meters away from him in a circle.

The energy released superheated the area in his nearby vicinity enough to boil and vaporize whatever water had been left after his punch — distorting the air as well like heat haze.

Even Oobleck's airship experienced turbulence from the blast, the heat and shock from the boy almost a kilometer away still affected him enough that he almost considered it wiser to just land his airship somewhere a little further away instead of trying to save him from the titanic Grimm.

The air pressure that shot out of his fist like a cannon traveled forward and at the same time, the Orochi let out a mighty roar, shooting its hellfire out from all its heads in an attempt to destroy him along with the forest behind him.

It was unheard of.

How could a Semblance produce something like that?

There have been no records of anything of that magnitude ever, even in ancient texts.

And so a battle of strength ensued.

Bardel's fist pressure met with the Orochi's conflagration. Air and Fire clashed for supremacy as they met in the middle, scattering in all directions to produce wave upon wave of tsunamis as a gigantic mushroom cloud formed in the middle, reaching high into the clouds above.

The Orochi pushed back, its three heads in the middle kept a constant spray while the rest threw potshots with great fireballs. Seeing the move, Bardel took a large breath in and threw consecutive punches out to intercept the fireballs while at the same time throwing a few more to fight the main flame.

Flame met air pressure and quickly, the fire was snuffed out in the air as they dispersed. In exchange, however, the Orochi's breath pressed on.

Unable to keep dishing out fists of the same caliber for longer, he stomped his foot in the sand and kicked up, sending a giant tide of sand, water, and air to push back the flame. From behind the cover of the elements, Bardel took a second to breathe properly and charge up for another punch.

With its vision blocked, the Orochi sprayed more fireballs at the obstacle coming towards it, creating another explosion that boiled the waters it had struck. It was counterproductive, however, as a thick screen of steam permeated all throughout the shore that further hid its target from itself.

Annoyed that its vision was obscured, the Orochi screeched and rose further up, revealing wing-like flippers that sent wave after wave of tsunamis past the shore and into the forest enough to submerge the small trees.

Truly, the Orochi deserved the rank of Calamity-level Grimm — had it been able to walk on land, the Kingdom of Vale would have been swallowed in a sea of flames long ago.

Creatures of Grimm that were born in the sea were, more often than not, of the City-level threat. With how there was rarely any huntsman that could and would hunt them when they lived in the depths of the sea, it was no wonder why there's an unknown number of Elder Grimm lurking beneath the still waters of the seas and oceans.

During the tidal onslaught, a blast out of the waters hit the Orochi square on its body, disorienting it a little and stopping it in its attacks.

From far beyond the shore, Oobleck watched and waited with bated breath for Bardel to reappear. Seconds, then minutes passed and there was nothing but the sound of the Orochi screeching as it continued its tidal assault, further swallowing the forest.

Suddenly, one of its heads was knocked up violently, nearly going far unto its back where its head crashed with the spikes on its back.

" _What in the world!?_ " Oobleck couldn't help but exclaim in wonder.

He grabbed his binoculars and searched the Orochi's body, hoping that the cause of one of its heads being sent back was what he thought it was. Upon zooming in, he saw the small figure of Bardel grabbing and climbing onto the neck of one of the Orochi's eight heads.

It was as if a man was fighting against a mountain on even footing and he didn't know what to feel about it.

Another head was knocked sideways, colliding with the head next to it and Oobleck could see Bardel falling from the head in the middle.

Incensed that this puny human was dealing damage when it could not retaliate, the Orochi tried to snatch Bardel out of the air in an attempt to crush him between its teeth and swallow him whole.

Unable to maneuver in the air, Bardel met the bite with a fist, just a single one of its thousands of razor-sharp teeth was already larger than him in both length and width. His fist crashed onto the diamond-hard fang of the Grimm, destroying it and all nearby teeth in the process — knocking them out of its mouth and into the sea.

The punch was strong enough to push both him and the head away from each other. And while the Orochi bellowed in pain, Bardel hit the sea like a skipping stone until he sunk down only to rise and breath after a moment.

Bardel cackled maniacally. "Finally! Something that doesn't die in one hit!" He burst forward, shooting towards the Orochi like a torpedo. " _COME ON!_ "

 _"He's having fun!?"_

Oobleck thought in disbelief. Never, in his lifetime, did he ever see someone have a good time fighting against Grimm. Perhaps that's just the way of the strong, he pondered.

"COME ON!"

Bardel yelled, excitement filling his body as he hit the main body of the Orochi, pushing it back a little further into the sea with a large splash that followed. He followed up on the attack by shooting forward again so that he could climb on top of him, grabbing and jumping up until he reached the top of one of its heads. As soon as he was standing on the armored head, he began bashing it in mad stomps and hammer fists.

"Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! _COME ON!_ "

After the sixth hit, the armor cracked, surprising the Grimm and elating Bardel. He then focused any and all attacks on that singular crack, opening it up further and larger for every hit.

The Orochi thrashed about, rolling in the sea in an attempt to get the human off of it — causing huge splashes and waves once again that nearly ate up half of the forest starting from the shore that was now non-existent.

Bardel held on for dear life, sinking his hands into the Grimm's flesh underneath its armored head through the cracks he created. His vise-like grip sent stinging sensations at the Orochi, making it thrash and roll about even more. It crashed its head onto a nearby crag, destroying it in the process.

Bardel took the brunt of the crash, receiving cuts and bruises while a few sharp rocks stabbed onto his back. The Orochi's thrashing had been slowly whittling at his stamina and his unexpected and violent landing against the crag took much away from him. His grip slowly loosened, so in an attempt to injure the Grimm further before he couldn't anymore, he climbed a little ways down and smacked the Orochi right in the eye, sinking his entire arm in as Grimm blood and ichor spewed out.

The Orochi writhed in pain and agony — it was the first time in its long years of living that he'd been injured to such an extent in one battle. The foul smell assaulted Bardel's sense of smell and it nearly made him barf, but he held on tight. From within the Grimm's eye, he focused all his strength and forcefully opened his palm, damaging it internally even more before pulling it out — its blood spraying out like a hole in a dam.

He pulled his arm back once again and steadied his footing using the Grimm's face as his platform. He focused again, motivating himself for one final blast as his body heated up one last time.

"Tsar..." He clenched his fist tightly, muscles bulging as veins popped up painfully. "... _BOMBA!_ "

He punched the eye, releasing his ultimate move at point-blank range. His arm started bleeding out from the pressure of consecutive uses of his strongest move, spewing and spraying where the large veins were.

The fist that crashed like a comet struck the defenseless head of the Orochi, pulverizing it to smithereens — its chunks flying up and out, raining Grimm blood and ichor soon after, only for it to disappear into a mist of black nothingness.

The punch knocked the both of them far away from each other — Bardel was sent back into the sunken forest while the Orochi crashed down under the sea.

Bardel smiled weakly to himself. _"Heh... so I didn't become weak after all. That grandiose son of a bitch was just crazy strong."_

The Orochi screeched in pain as it was forced to retreat, losing one of its heads in a failed attempt to kill one human was not worth the risk and reward of killing it by itself. It would mend its wounds and come back stronger and wiser, biding its time for revenge.

And when it does, it will destroy _everything_.

Bardel skipped like a stone atop the waters once again until it had crashed onto multiple treetops to slow down his stumble until he sank down. Immediately, Oobleck went low and set the airship on auto-pilot to hold steady in the air as he jumped down with a rope ladder to save Bardel.

Oobleck dived down in search of him. Luckily, Bardel hasn't sunk low as he was caught by a branch just a few feet underwater. He quickly fetched him and hoisted him up his shoulder. He grunted due to the weight of the muscular boy but nonetheless carried him up into the safety of his airship. As he laid Bardel down on one side of the airship, he checked for vital signs and found that he passed out from both fatigue and bloodloss — both his arm and back needing special attention.

He set the destination of their airship back to Beacon Academy on autopilot and sat beside Bardel to review the footage he captured of a lone boy fighting against the Calamity that was the 8-Headed Water Dragon Grimm, the Orochi.

As he watched, he remembered something that sent goosebumps all over his body.

 _"Didn't Ms. Lillianne mention that Mr. Armas can go after she had her Aura unlocked?"_

* * *

 _In the calm of the night, a solitary sailboat became my cradle as my scar-riddled body was carried away.  
_ _A traveler... with pain displayed over my face as I pointlessly tried to sleep.  
_ _It kept others away as I aimlessly head further and further north._

 _I thought we could join hands, but mine just slipped away.  
_ _As if I never truly believed I could ever be loved in the first place._

 _I feel so lost... like I have no home to return to.  
_ _I yelled for someone to save me, but I just ended up feeling sad when no one did.  
_ _"I'm all alone," I said.  
_ _Even though you said you'd never let me say those words._

 _My heart wavered time after time as the endless night's rain seeped through,  
_ _running over my scars as if it was trying to wash my past away._

 _The rope you tied had come undone,  
_ _as if there was nothing to stop the boat from sailing away in the first place._

 _I'm always lost... like I have no home to return to.  
_ _Yelling for someone to seek me out, but no one ever hears me.  
_ _I roll up in a ball as I wait.  
_ _Saying, "I'm all alone."_

 _My resolve to keep a strong face is the only thing dancing on the water's reflection.  
_ _As if there was never stopping me in the first place._

 _Always wandering, upon a wave with no destination,  
_ _my sailboat merely floats along.  
_ _That's how it's always been.  
_ _That's how I'll go on living._

 _Even though you said you'll always be by my side,  
_ _even when I can't hold back my tears.  
_ _That you'll be the light illuminating the darkness._

 _Even though you promised to be my Polaris._

 _Now, there are only the creatures of darkness to swallow me whole._

* * *

"So you're saying Lilly is favored by multiple gods?" Tiella asked, not with incredulity in her voice, but anxiety instead.

Ozpin nodded. "Yes, I'm certain of it."

Tiella could do nothing but click her tongue in irritation. She bit her lower lip and looked around, contemplating what to do with the information until her thoughts were interrupted by a blood-curdling scream.

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—!**_ "

"Lilly!?" Tiella saw the girl kicking and screaming in her sleep "Lilly! Lillianne! Wake up!" She held the girl's shoulders tightly in an attempt to shake her awake.

"Tielle! Bardy!" The girl called out in her sleep, eyes refusing to open as beads of sweat poured out of her forehead. "Don't leave me!"

Tiella struggled to do anything other than watch and hold her friend close.

"Please!" Lilly cried out, like a child left behind by her mother. "They're coming after me! I-I can't stop them!"

"Lilly!" Tiella clasped Lilly's hands together with her own. "Lilly? I'm here, okay? I'm here!"

"D-Don't leave me, please!" She kicked and screamed. " _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—!**_ "

Tiella cringed from the sound as a sinking feeling in her gut took over her. She could do nothing but embrace her friend in her suffering. Seconds turned into minutes as Lilly thrashed and shrieked in her sleep while crying out Tiella's and Bardel's name.

"I'm here, Lilly, I'm here." Tiella hushed, like a mother to her child. "It's okay, now. I'm here."

"Tielle? Tielle!" Lilly called out in her nightmare. "Don't leave me, please!"

"Shush... I'm here, I'm here."

"Please..."

"There, there..."

"Don't die..."

Tiella was stunned into silence at Lilly's cries.

"I'm _so, so_ _sorry_ , please, don't leave me! Tielle? Tielle! I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to kill you! I-I—..."

Lilly held on to Tiella for dear life, nearly crushing the girl with her newfound strength bolstered by her passive Aura enhancement. But Tiella didn't let go. She would never let go.

"I'm here, Lilly! I'm still alive! I'm right here!"

Tiella's eyes burned with rage as she glared at Ozpin.

"Goddamnit! Ozpin! What did you do!?"

Ozpin and Port watched the two girls in silence, understanding that there was nothing they could do to help. Ozpin wasn't the least bit affected by Tiella's glare. He understood, after all, that she was young — and that the glare was more to herself than to anyone else in the destroyed room.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I'm sorry about the previous chapter. I understand that it was a scattered mess like one of you pointed out. I contemplated rewriting it but I decided to just keep it up instead._

 _It'll be a nice reminder of what not to do anymore._

 _Moving on, I hope you enjoyed this chapter more than the last one! If you did, please let me know what you liked the most._

 _If you find something you didn't quite agree with, do let me know as well!_

 _Also, in this chapter, there are a few of things referencing Earth. Can you name them? Come on, name them! It'll be a nice little game! Haha!_

 _Anyway, that's that for now._

 _Thank you so much for reading Lost Star this far in, I hope to see you in the next one as well._


	30. Chapter 30

_At World's End..._

An entity with a heart filled with darkness listlessly paced the halls of her castle. She'd inspected the tapestries adorning her castle's tall walls and windows, ran her finger across desks and other ornate pieces of furniture to check for any such dust build-up, and even checked the kitchen for anything— _anything_ —that was cooking.

The entity was, simply put, bored.

She'd paced the halls a million times before and have watched the same scenery pass by in her strolls a million times just the same.

She went out for a minor change of scenery for she'd been feeling rather languid for quite some time now. So, despite the view of a bland, grey, and desolate wasteland, she still chose to go out in favor of not meeting her incompetent henchmen soon. She'd much rather be bored than disappointed, after all.

Her heels clacked for every step as her long dress dragged behind her while eyeing her pets with nonplussed eyes. Contrary to her mood, her pets were always eager to see her — and eager they were always to serve her too.

As soon as she stepped out of her castle and into her... _'garden'_ of sorts, she was immediately flocked to by her myriad pets. Some were the avian type, some were the primate type, others were the reptilian, and some were closer to the eldritch. She walked towards a large... _'pond'_ , for euphemism's sake, and stared into it for an unknown amount of time.

Perhaps it had only been seconds, perhaps minutes, maybe even hours — she can never truly tell anymore, living for eons takes its toll on one's state of mind.

As the clock ticked by and her pets came and went, her attention was taken away from her idle... _idleness_ , when one of her avians, _"A Nevermore, the humans call them, I believe."_ cawed and flapped its wings. Now, this would have normally been, well, _normal_ and so should've been ignored, but the way it sounded and how it seemed to flap its wings both to express fear and catch attention certainly diminished her listless mood ever so slightly.

Before she could turn her head, however, she was assaulted by a heavy feeling that made her blood boil for no apparent reason. She became agitated and so did her breathing become restless and erratic. The sudden giant mood swing confused her greatly — enough that she would gnash her teeth and clench her deathly white skin, black nails digging into her palms as jet black blood leaked and dripped.

Unable to take the immense agitation and confusion any longer, she endeavored to search its source with a wrathful roar, turning her head side to side, back and around. It was then that she noticed that she was not the only one in clearly great distress. Her pets were roaring and screeching — some were banging their large hands on the ground, some were flying in circles in the air, while some could do nothing but cry out.

" _Enough!_ " She yelled, silencing all, unwilling to bask any longer in the cacophony of the chaos.

Her blackened eyes, painted with a devilish red in the iris, sent daggers everywhere and nowhere in search of the source of her great distress. After a while of growing agitation and irritation, she managed to find a general direction of the source.

She glared at the direction as if willing the source to go away with her deathly red gaze until her eyes widened slightly and her mouth hung agape at the realization. The realization that where it was coming from, was coming from someone she knew — a little too intimately for her liking.

Her anger was replaced by discomposure once again as she realized this.

 _"What is this energy?_

 _Who could produce such a thing?_

 _Is it his doing?"_

She almost immediately tossed aside the notion that the strength of a star could come from someone old and withering as he — as she was certain that such an energy signature could not come, will never come from, and should never come from him.

"In other words, this is someone else." She muttered to the air.

 _"But who?"_ She thought, bewilderment taking over in her mind.

She was glad, at least, that her listlessness had disappeared completely, though she feared that this may lead to a drastic change in the near future. Such a powerful unknown factor lingering about could alter the status quo so much that it could tip the scales in anyone's favor — including the fact that such favors could tip towards the unknown factor themselves.

She summoned an eldritch pet that walked on tentacles with an orb as its body. Or was it its head?

"Watts." She called out.

Within moments, a well-dressed man appeared within the orb, bowing and scraping as he spoke. "Mistress."

"What is new in Vale?" She asked, never taking her eyes off the direction from where the unknown energy signature was coming from. _"It's slowly receding now."_ She thought.

The man named Watts held a hand to his chin in thought for a moment before answering. "Nothing out of the ordinary, my lady," He spoke with near certainty until the memory of recent reports came to mind. "Though, there was a report about a new staff member to Beacon Academy a few weeks ago. A female and, while not a professor, is a huntress. However, upon closer inspection of her files, there's a distinct lack of information about her and there were quite a few noteworthy vague wordings and phrasings all around — it's as if she didn't exist until the papers were made."

With a curious tilt of her head and a raise of her brow, she gave her subject a short glance before looking back at Vale's direction again. "Tell me more about this huntress."

* * *

 _On the first day since Lillianne's Aura was unlocked…_

"Tielle..?"

"I'm right here."

Lillianne slept in the infirmary and was yet to awaken.

It was the morning after and it had been a hectic night. Glynda had relayed to the students that it had been a Dust experiment gone wrong with Peach backing it up by taking the blame for it herself.

As soon as the message had been relayed, Glynda tried to fix the office. She was successful for the most part, putting the pieces of the walls and windows back together as well as mending the cracks on the floor, walls, and ceiling. However, those that had been burned and melted, the couches and desks, were already far beyond her abilities to mend — they'd simply need to be replaced.

Soon after the Grand Clocktower was mostly restored, Professor Oobleck returned requesting a stretcher and to prepare the infirmary for Bardel. They were surprised when they saw Bardel unconscious and wounded (except for Tiella, of course) but _surprised_ didn't even begin to describe their expressions and reactions when they watched the footage of Bardel going _mano y mano_ against the legendary Orochi of the South that terrorizes the southeastern waters between Sanus and Anima.

Even Tiella was shocked when she saw the battle — though in her case, it was because she'd never seen anything like the Orochi outside the world of fiction.

Not only did the footage bring a good amount of information about the elusive and dreaded Calamity-level Grimm but it also showcased the true strength of one who belonged to the mercenary trio called Avatāra.

Ozpin ordered Oobleck to keep the footage highly confidential. If the council learned of such strength that was allied with Ozpin, it would be hard to tell what sort of drastic measures they would take in an attempt to return the status quo.

Even more so if other kingdoms learned of it. Some might think that Vale was preparing for war with such an asset.

Even if that isn't what would happen, it'll still be a _ginormous hurt in the posterior_ to a lot of people involved — particularly, the star of the footage, Bardel.

And if they learned about Bardel, they'll soon find out about the others. Which will, again, cascade into a whole new mess.

Taking into account Bardel's irascible personality, suffice to say that things becoming FUBAR is the most likely outcome.

"Mmm… Bardy?"

"He's still passed out."

True to Tiella's words, he was currently bandaged up and lying peacefully on the bed next to Lilly's. The wounds on his person would have been severe if it had been inflicted on a normal person, but even without Essentia, Bardel was still a sturdy boy.

"Tielle..."

"I'm here."

Tiella'd had this exchange going on ever since she woke up next to Lilly's bed this morning. As the sleeping girl dreamt, she constantly called out to her friends and parents. She slept on a chair that night, one that was situated between the fatigued boy and the sleeping girl. All through the night, Tiella held her hand, never letting go just as she promised to herself and Lilly — because whenever she let go, the nightmares would always return.

She felt tired and unquiet. She'd been trying to find a comfortable sleeping position in an uncomfortable situation all night and that only ended up with her becoming sleep deprived through most of it. Her shoulders and lower back were also in a little bit of pain due to her awkward sleeping position. But she didn't mind.

She was there for the girl, after all.

Tiella watched Lilly sleep with drowsy eyes, her eyelids fighting to stay open as she did. It's been a while since she'd been deprived of sleep. Her time was spent in comfort for the most part ever since she arrived at Beacon after all.

Tiella yawned with tears forming at the edge of her eyes. She brushed her unkempt hair up, revealing more of her face to the gently soothing sunlight of dawn filtered through the translucent curtains of the infirmary's windows. It would've been a good morning for a run had it been a normal day.

Unfortunately for her, she couldn't.

"Mama..."

The girl shifted, inching closer towards the hand that held her own as if in search of warmth.

"She isn't here."

And as if her answer was heard, the sleeping girl's expression changed subtly, to one that expressed her melancholy.

"...Papa..."

Tiella held her hand a touch tighter, cursing herself for being unable to do anything. Fearing that she would only make the girl sadder, she did not deign to answer. Instead, she closed her eyes and let her sleep deprivation take over.

* * *

 _On the second day..._

Much remained the same.

She'd kept her hand entwined with hers. She'd answer her calls whenever she said her name. She'd hold her a little closer whenever her nightmares appeared.

Even Bardel had yet to awaken.

Aside from a short bath and a quick trip to the cafeteria, she didn't leave Lilly's side.

And _always_ she held her hand for as long as she could.

* * *

 _On the third day..._

"Hey, Lilly."

"..."

"Glynda stopped by today."

"..."

"She's a little worried about you and me."

"..."

"Okay, I lied."

"..."

"She's really worried about you and me. Mostly me, but you get the picture."

"..."

"Bardy's showing signs that he'll wake up sometime soon though, I'm betting it's tomorrow."

"..."

"How about you?"

"..."

"Feeling like waking up any time soon too?"

"..."

* * *

 _On the fourth day..._

"You know, I miss Karen."

"..."

"She'd probably smack my ass for doing nothing lately, but eh, I can't help it. I miss her."

"..."

"I wonder how she's doing lately? Hopefully, she doesn't drink herself to death."

"..."

* * *

 _On the fifth day..._

"How is she?"

"..."

"Same old, same old."

"Still asleep, huh...?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Y'know, Bardy, I've been curious."

"...?"

"..."

"How was Karen?"

"Didn't you already ask?"

"..."

"Yeah, but, I'm just wondering if there was anything you guys failed to tell me before or something, I dunno."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"She actually wanted to be the one to find you."

"..."

"Huh, why am I not surprised."

"But she weighed the pros and cons and figured Lilly was our best bet at doing it."

"..."

"Well, congrats, you guys found me."

"Yep."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hey, Tiella."

"..."

"What's up?"

"Do you want to stay?"

* * *

It was Friday on the 7th of the 6th month, 1215 AD.

The weekend had just arrived and yet not much had changed. Tiella barely left Lilly's side for a little over a week, and while Bardel seemed unaffected with how he'd gone through his days, it was clear to anyone that he, too, had been in a dejected mood ever since.

And for the people of Beacon Academy, their absence was clearly felt — even more so for those who'd become close to them.

Team RWBY had been worrying ever since the day they learned of Lilly's situation. How she entered a comatose-like state for a reason the staff couldn't rightly explain. The best they got was that Lilly overused her Essentia, so she shut down much like what happened after her match with Tiella.

But that didn't explain why Tiella had to continuously stay by her side. And with her long absence, a certain professor's mood had taken a turn for the worse. In the past week, Glynda had become quite irritable. Evident by the fact that the glare in her eyes never faded away. She was still trying to be civil, of course, however, the way her responses were curt and snappy made her even harder to approach than ever before.

"Professor Goodwitch..?" Jaune called out as he warily walked towards his professor with a shy (scared) wave of his hand.

It was the last session for Combat Class for the semester had just finished.

Glynda abruptly halted from her brisk walk, turning sharply to give her student a stare that was just as sharp. "Yes, Mr. Arc?"

The icy glare made him feel as if the temperature in the hall dropped below zero. He barely swallowed the lump in his throat before answering. "W-We... uh, m-my team and I were just, uh—"

"I'm quite busy, Mr. Arc, if it's not urgent, then I'd like to go ahead and take care of my business. I'm sure you have homework to take care of for your break until next semester." she interrupted, unable to patiently wait for her stuttering student to finish. She quickly turned and resumed her brisk pace.

Jaune stood stock-still until he couldn't hear his professor's heels clicking and clacking anymore. He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in and jumped in his place when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He instantly turned to look behind him, wondering what could possibly want to scare him like that but then he immediately calmed down with a sigh when he found that it was only Pyrrha.

"Jaune," Pyrrha called in worry. "are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Jaune said, scratching his nape with a dry chuckle. "I wanted to ask Professor Goodwitch about the team battles for next semester."

Pyrrha smiled wryly, a little glad that her partner and leader was willing to enter the lion's den to ask a question their team had been only been wondering about in passing. "Thank you, Jaune, but we can just wait until after the semester break to learn about it. I'm sure they'll let us know more about team battles before or as soon as the 2nd semester starts." She smiled gratefully.

"Yeah, you're right." Jaune chuckled dryly again in embarrassment. "I guess that was unnecessary, huh?"

"No," Pyrrha immediately rebutted. "Of course not. You're simply looking out for us in the way you can — and you can be sure that we're grateful for it." She smiled warmly.

Jaune smiled, affected by Pyrrha's infectiously sweet smile. "Thanks."

Since there wasn't much else to do except for the mountain of homework they'd been given for semester break, they chose to stroll around the school. They had around four weeks until the next semester began next month, so their professors thought it only right that they were given homework fitting such a vacation.

It was the perfect weather for a stroll around the gardens of Beacon and yet it didn't feel quite right, even to them. Tiella's absence, even though she didn't truly disappear, had an effect on the school that made some people feel as if things just weren't the same.

"I wonder how Tiella's doing," Jaune muttered, wondering to himself.

"I suppose she's still worried over Lilly," Pyrrha answered somberly. "I'd like to pay them a visit again but..."

The first time they did, Tiella was grateful, but she preferred that, unless people needed to use the infirmary, no one should come, at least in groups. They were worried over Lilly who they suddenly heard had passed out again, so both teams checked in on her. When they arrived at the infirmary, they were surprised to see the solemn look on Tiella's face as she gently held Lilly's hand.

"Yeah, but maybe we can visit in twos?"

Pyrrha looked to her partner with a small tilt of her head, wondering whether going in twos would work for Tiella. She smiled at the idea, hoping that it was. "Perhaps we can try?"

Jaune smiled as well. "Maybe we can go now?"

"I think that's a great idea."

With a slightly more hopeful tune to their steps, they made their way towards the infirmary.

They paced the halls in leisure despite the tiny sense of anxiety that pervaded in the recesses of their hearts and minds. After a short while, they arrived at their destination. The door was slightly ajar, which normally should be closed. Curiously, they both peeked inside and were surprised and saddened to see that their professor was standing beside Tiella who was sleeping on the side of Lilly's bed. They couldn't see more because their backs were turned to them, but they were almost positive that Tiella still held Lilly's hand in hers.

Glynda simply stood beside Tiella as she observed her with a small scowl. She held a blanket in her arms as she stared, unaware of the eyes that were watching them from behind the door. Wordlessly, she gently draped the blanket over Tiella's hunched shoulders, straightening and flattening the creases she found along the way. As she did so, her hands lingered for a few seconds longer over her shoulders until one of them found itself gently, softly, gingerly caressing Tiella's cheek and tucking her hair behind her ear.

They were surprised to see that Glynda's urgent business was to visit Tiella, although it shouldn't have surprised them at all in retrospect. And yet, what saddened them was the fact that, just as their professor was finished draping a blanket over their friend, she looked nearly lachrymose while staring at the girl. They noticed her speaking in whispers, soft enough that no one would hear her. Her soft glare sharpened ever so slightly as tears threatened to spill at the edge of her eyes, though before they rolled down her fair cheeks, she wiped them off with a sniffle.

It made them wonder what she said but they didn't have time to stir in their thoughts as panic took over when they noticed their professor walking towards the door.

Jaune spoke in hushed whispers as nervousness seeped out of his voice. Pyrrha's heart beat faster for every step Glynda took towards the door. In a rush, Pyrrha took Jaune's hand and shushed him with a finger to her lips, signaling to follow her lead with a backward tilt of her head as she quickly but quietly led him away from the door. Just as the door opened and Glynda stepped out, Pyrrha and Jaune were walking as if they'd simply passed by the door, acting like they saw nothing.

Glynda looked at them blankly, though internally she worried whether they saw her or not. She saw the pair walking away while talking about something she couldn't quite hear. Convinced that she wasn't seen nor heard, Glynda closed her eyes momentarily as she breathed out a sigh before walking in the opposite direction.

The pair closely listened for Glynda's heels going further away and only when they heard them no longer did they let out the breaths they'd been holding in relief. They looked behind them to see whether the coast was clear and when they couldn't see any sign of Glynda, they shared a look and smiled wryly while giggling.

"That was close!" Jaune said, eyes wide as if he couldn't believe they escaped the scene so easily. "Thanks, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha chuckled. "It's nothing."

Though, after the first few bouts of giggles and laughter, the melancholic mood returned when they remembered what Glynda had been doing in the infirmary. They resumed their walk, deciding without exchanging a word that it wasn't the best time to visit.

They didn't know what to say.

They didn't know what to think.

The only thing they were sure of was the feeling within them when they watched their sorrowful professor tenderly caressing their friend as she slept.

"I guess Professor Goodwitch is missing Tiella the most." Jaune thought aloud.

His words made Pyrrha look at him in with a blank expression. As they walked, she cast her gaze on the ground in silent contemplation.

* * *

On the way back to her office, Glynda Goodwitch's thoughts were occupied with worry and yearning for Tiella.

She understood that Lilly was experiencing nightmares and that only Tiella could wash them away by staying by her side and holding her hand. But can anyone blame her for what she'd been feeling? She just couldn't help feeling so morose after not seeing Tiella for the better part of a week and, these days, they've barely had any interaction at all.

The reason for her irritability, however, was something a little more... _unsightly_.

 _"Stupid."_

Her stomach churned whenever she visited Tiella — and the feeling permeated through her body even hours after she left the infirmary. It was ugly, she knew and understood that clearly. But she can't help it. Every time she saw Tiella holding Lilly so caringly as if she was brittle glass that would break at the slightest pressure, anger built up from within her and she would start to feel sick from her stomach while a burning sensation spread through her body.

She would excuse herself earlier than intended and would hastily head straight for the nearest washroom, gnashing her teeth along the way while tightly clenching her fists. Her icy glare would freeze any student that saw her in the halls, causing them to make themselves appear smaller to not gain the attention of their clearly irate Headmistress.

Upon reaching the washroom, she would lean on the sink with her head hung low while removing her glasses. The sick feeling in her stomach would slowly fade away as she calmed herself through steady breaths, though it never disappeared entirely.

 _"It's all in my head."_

She twisted the faucet and washed her face with it — letting the cool water wash away whatever fire had been burning within her.

 _"It's all in my head."_

She soaked her hands and splashed her face with water a little more strongly, an attempt to slap herself from her thoughts. She looked at herself in the mirror as she took deep calming breaths, noting the clear signs of stress written all over her face. With a resigned sigh, she turned the faucet off and shook her hands with excess water before drying them with some tissues.

 _"Don't be stupid."_

She wiped her face off as well, careful not to get water over her clothes.

 _"There's nothing to be done. So, just stay calm."_

She stared herself in the eyes as she looked in the mirror.

 _"Don't be jealous of Lilly."_

Frustration built up inside her at the irrational thoughts forming in her mind. She threw the used tissues in the trash bin and walked out of the washroom with a brisk pace.

She shouldn't be feeling like this, she should always be cool as a cucumber after all. These irrational thoughts were making her do irrational things and they've been affecting her relationship with her students as their professor. It's good to be feared, she thought, but she didn't want to be feared so much that barely any student would even look her in the eyes anymore.

It's all so stupid.

Everything's stupid.

 _"Stupid."_

Heat slowly gathered at the edge of her eyes as her frustration built up even more.

 _"Stupid Tiella."_

* * *

 _"'Do you want to stay?'"_

Bardel remembered asking the question he'd been meaning to ever since the thought crossed his mind. Tiella gave him a nonplussed look at first, seemingly indifferent to the question. She idly circled her thumb over the back of Lilly's hand as she held it in hers while in a pensive mood over Bardel's out of the blue question. She looked at Lilly's sleeping face as Bardel's question rang in her mind.

Bardel patiently waited for an answer as he sat on the side of the bed next to Lilly's. His gaze passed over Tiella and out the window where the clouds were floating and the sun was hiding. A while passed and Bardel nearly forgot he even asked the question until Tiella finally spoke.

 _"'Don't be stupid. Of course, I don't.'"_ Bardel remembered Tiella say to him. _"That's what she said to me, at least."_

But he wasn't convinced. He knew how Tiella lies. She's a good liar, to be sure, but there were always telltale signs when she's lying about certain things — she would always look away, hiding her face away entirely, and speak in a monotonous voice whenever she lied about something she didn't want to lie about.

 _"I think she wants to stay. For Glynda, at least."_

It was 3 in the afternoon that day and Bardel was sitting on his bed in their room, silently contemplating the days that passed by. His talk with Tiella was the last he'd talk to her about anything and that had been four days ago already.

Unwilling to stir in boredom for a second longer, he decided to finally take care of what had been on his mind since before he and Lilly reached Vale — clothes. He had fresh clothes to wear every day, mind you, but that didn't mean he liked them. Formal-looking uniforms always felt so stifling to him — he never truly understood Tiella's liking to them even if she usually prefers wearing them semi-formal.

He's more of a form and functionality type of guy, _Hana Yori Dango,_ as the Japanese would say — but the people of Remnant wouldn't know what that means — so much so that he doesn't particularly care what he wears as long as he feels comfortable in them, even if that meant wearing mismatched outfits. The sight of him wearing a plain black tank top with grey jersey shorts would make a certain fashionista cringe her eyes away while pinching the bridge of her nose — especially with how skin-tight he made nearly everything he wore look.

Even so, that was his sense of style. With that in mind, he visited the infirmary for Tiella.

On the way, Bardel came upon Jaune and Pyrrha in the hallways. Jaune met eyes with him and so did Pyrrha just a second later. Bardel gave them a slight nod of acknowledgment to which Jaune gave him a small wave while Pyrrha gave him a small smile and a nod as well. Just as they were about to pass each other by, Bardel had a thought.

"Hey, kid. What was your name again?"

Jaune and Pyrrha turned curiously. They both shared a look, wondering who he was talking to. Jaune raised a finger to his face.

"Uh, me?"

Bardel nodded. "Yeah."

"It's Jaune Arc," he said.

Bardel nodded again. "So, Jaune."

"Yeah?"

"I'm new to Vale and I need to buy some clothes. Know a place I can go to?"

Jaune wondered for a bit before speaking. "What kind of clothes are you looking for?"

"Just the normal stuff. Tank tops, boots, cargo pants." Bardel shrugged. "Maybe some plain shirts."

Jaune nodded at his words, already searching his mind for shops that sell the kind he was looking for. It wasn't particularly hard, or if you look at it from a different angle, it could be hard with how broad the selection of shops is that sell those kinds of clothes — but that's the kind of thing people who overthink would find trouble with.

"I guess if you're looking for those kinds of clothes, practically any shop would work, so I suggest going to the shopping district in Downtown Vale."

"If I may, I believe that Vale also has some shops that sell clothing made for Huntsman." Pyrrha politely added with a smile. "You can have them tailor-made to suit your style or you may also simply peruse through what's already available — that way, they won't be easily worn out due to the special material they're made of as well as the techniques they were made with. Though, with all that in mind, they're certain to be a lot more expensive."

Bardel nodded with the new information provided. "Alright, thanks." He turned, leaving the two already towards the infirmary.

The two watched him take a few steps away until Pyrrha pulled Jaune a little closer to whisper.

"Isn't he new to Vale? Don't you think he might need a guide?"

Jaune gave his partner a short look before looking back at Bardel's walking figure.

"I guess, yeah." Jaune nodded, slowly realizing Pyrrha's point. "Do you want to come to Vale too?"

Pyrrha felt ecstatic at the invitation and would have instantly accepted but, as much as she would want to, she still wished to be considerate. "I'd like to but I think Bardel would prefer boys as his company, especially with how most of our friends are girls. I'm sure you and Ren would too."

Jaune thought over Pyrrha's suggestion for a few before nodding in agreement. "I don't really mind spending more time with you, Pyrrha. You're my partner after all."

His words sent a bit of warmth to spread across Pyrrha's fair pink cheeks.

"But alright, I guess a boys' day out is fine too. It'll be a good chance to get to know Bardel and get him more familiar with Vale." He smiled at Pyrrha before walking briskly to catch up to Bardel. "I'll see you later, Pyrrha! Tell Ren to send me a message if he wants to join us."

* * *

When Bardel arrived at the infirmary, Tiella was awake in the place she'd always been the past few days — the seat beside Lilly's bed. She was staring outside the window with a wistful look while absentmindedly holding Lilly's hand. Wrapped around her free hand was a blanket that also partially draped her legs.

"Hey," Bardel softly called out.

Tiella gave him a look through the corner of her eye, her expression changed from wistful to blank. They just looked at each other for scant seconds until Tiella went back to looking out the window and idly caressing Lilly's hand with her thumb.

"What's up?" She replied.

Bardel took a seat on the bed beside Lilly's. "Could you lend me money to buy clothes?"

Tiella gave him a blank look once again before copping her left pants pocket for her wallet. After retrieving it, she simply tossed it to Bardel. "Show me the receipt when you get back."

"Thanks," Bardel said as he stood to leave.

He was already near the door when he heard Tiella speak in whispers.

"If you see her... if you see Glynda, tell her I'm sorry."

Bardel looked towards Tiella only to find her still gazing out. He nodded his head despite it. "I will."

As he took his first step out the door, he paused again when he heard Tiella once more.

"And that I miss her too."

He didn't see it but Tiella's hold on the blanket tightened at her own spoken words. Because, unlike before, he simply chose to nod without looking back before finally leaving — shutting the door gently behind him.

Tiella's steady gaze shift below, landing on the sleeping girl whose hand she held.

"But Lilly needs me more than you do right now."

Her visage was serene as if she was simply taking a siesta. Her chest rose and fell in a calm and rhythmic tune like she was dreaming of moments that brought her joy.

Tiella sighed, leaning back on her chair to rest her eyes. She'd been sleep deprived the past few nights — with Lilly's nightmares returning sporadically, she couldn't find the time to truly relax and rest easy. She was getting better, however. Her bouts of night terrors were becoming fewer and further in between. She did wonder whether that was a good thing or a bad thing — whether what was happening was just the calm before the storm or not.

"Tielle... hehe."

Surprised, Tiella couldn't help but open her eyes and look at the girl, unable to hide the shock on her face when she heard Lilly giggle in her sleep. She let a small tired smile settle across her face while sighing.

 _"Maybe it's not so bad after all?"_

"I'm here, Lilly," She said, gently squeezing and caressing Lilly's hand in hers. "I'm here."

* * *

In the middle of the hall, Bardel met up with Jaune and was offered a guide in Vale.

Bardel shrugged. "If it makes things easier."

Jaune gave him a smile. "Great! Let's go to the docks, my teammate Ren should be waiting there already."

"Someone else is coming?" Bardel asked.

"Uh," Jaune paused a little to think. "Is that bad?" He asked anxiously.

Bardel shook his head. "Nah."

Jaune smiled in relief. "Alright then, let's go?"

Bardel simply nodded.

In their short walk to the airship dock, there wasn't much conversation that happened between them. With how Bardel preferred to answer short and simple and Jaune still felt quite intimidated, each attempt at small talk died quickly. They eventually met up with Ren at the airship docks and short introductions were made once more.

"Right, so," Jaune started. "This is my teammate and friend, Lie Ren."

"Hello." Ren nodded to which Bardel did so as well.

"Yeah, and this is Bardel."

"Bardel Juno Armas." He finished. "Bardel is fine."

They boarded the airship heading for Vale soon after the pleasantries were exchanged. along the way, Bardel was caught up watching the view from the window. You'd think he was captivated by the view or something, when in reality, he was imagining a ninja running atop the buildings.

Why?

Because he was bored and that's what boys do.

Jaune was just about ready to die from motion sickness while Ren was staying quiet. Seeing as his leader was indisposed, he thought he'd take up the mantle to be the host at least until they've docked.

"Bardel."

Bardel gave him a look from the corner of his eyes, sending an acknowledgment of Ren's call.

"How's life at Beacon for you so far?"

Bardel thought over the question for a few seconds before looking back out the window. "Boring as fuck. I can see why Tiella loves it here."

Jaune and Ren felt quite curious at his words. Seeing as Jaune was still indisposed, Ren chose to ask further for them. "Tiella prefers it when things are boring?"

"Yeah." Bardel nodded noncommittally. "The three of us, me, Lilly, and Tiella, are mercenaries, right?"

Ren nodded, quietly listening.

"Well, me and Lilly've only been mercenary for 6 months." Bardel continued. "But Tiella's been doing this for nearly a decade — and she's just _18_ like me and Lilly."

The fact caught both boys off guard, Jaune nearly forgot about his motion sickness for a moment as he digested the new information in.

 _"Tiella's been a mercenary for almost_ _ **10 years...?**_ _"_

Jaune was flabbergasted as soon as he heard it. He kept staring at the nonchalant look over Bardel's face, hoping that it was just a bad joke or at the very least, an exaggeration. He couldn't think of a reason why a 9 or 10-year-old would want to choose the life of a mercenary.

Ren, meanwhile, had a knowing look over his face. He knew the kind of hardships life can offer if you don't have the "normal" kind of family — or at least, lose such a thing. It may sound patronizing to some but he can somewhat understand why a preteen would be forced to make such a decision.

 _"Perhaps we're a little more alike than I thought."_

Bardel saw the look on their faces and felt amused by it. He smirked to himself and figured he could humor them a little for joining him around town.

"Lemme tell you guys about how I met Tiella. Ya see..."

* * *

I first met Tiella a little over 6 months ago.

I wanted to make money with what I'm good at — and the only thing I'm good at is fighting.

Even before I received my Essentia, fighting was all I ever did.

In middle school, I was already what teachers love to call a delinquent.

I fought everyone and everything until I made a name for myself as Mad Dog Bardy. It's a shit name given by weakass people, but looking back, it's kinda like proof that I've become someone to a lot of 'em.

It was the first time in my life that I had an identity, even if it was shitty nickname from the streets.

I somehow got into high school but my fighting days were far from over. I had run-ins with the local gangs, some tried to recruit me, some tried to "take care" of me. But in the end, they all fell flat on their asses against me. It got so bad that police intervention became a normal thing whenever I was involved.

I once busted a cop's teeth in when he shoved me to the side of his police car. High kicked the fuck out of him and knocked him out until the next day, good times.

Anyway, enough of that crap. I got detained by the police for a day or two until I was bailed by my old man — this was a normal thing, by the way.

As soon as we got home, we'd have our daily fistfight. Me and pops. Oddly enough, it wasn't as if he was abusive. At least, I think he wasn't. He cared about me and my hobbies, he never bothered with my grades because he thought that maybe studying just isn't what I'm good at. The only reason I can think of for him to wanna fight with me all those times ago was because he thought fighting was what I'm good at and that it was his way of supporting me as well as disciplining me.

Somehow, he convinced mum to let me go about with my ways, with certain conditions:

One, that I should never break the law anymore.

Two, that I should at least graduate high school.

And three, that I should never become one of the bullies or join in any gangs.

They're really supportive parents in the strangest ways.

So, I never hated them for it, I'm actually thankful because of it. I got so good at fighting because of my old man that I was feared by the police and the local gangs by the time of my second year at high school.

I made a friend there, believe it or not. Some pussyass punk that couldn't hurt a fly — but he was cool. I took a liking to him 'cause he was the only one oddly not afraid of me. I even threatened to beat his ass and dump him down the lake once, he just kept fucking smiling at me all throughout. I was creeped the fuck out so I just left him alone the first time. Sometime later, I saw him again but he was being bullied or some shit.

Now, that, I can't _stand_.

I'm a piece of shit but I only pick on other pieces of shit that know how to fight back. Bullying the weak's just far beneath me.

So I stepped in, took care of the assholes, and helped him up.

Now imagine my god damn fucking surprise when I saw the little fucker's smile. The little shit was getting his ass handed to him but he was smiling through the damn thing. _It was creepy as fuck_.

"Thank you for coming to save me."

That's what he said.

In that creepy-ass smile, he thanked me.

"Didn't do it for you," I said. "Learn to save yourself next time."

What got me interested in him was his next words.

"Then, maybe you can teach me?"

...

Well, stuff happened, lots of crap I don't feel like talking about. Fast forward to last year, I received my Essentia for the first time and it was both the greatest and worst fucking thing in my life.

I got stronger like I wanted but that painted a big fucking target on my back because I was already notorious for being a reckless fucking asshole, now I got a power-boosting ability to back me up, so that scared the fuck out of a lot of people including the authorities.

They wanted me caught, I wanted to fight more people, so you can imagine how that turned out. It was a huge fucking pain in the ass for me — so huge that I had to leave my family behind or else they'd get used against me.

About two months after I got my Essentia, I ended up being recruited to become a bodyguard for a group of scientists. The person that recruited me was Lilly.

* * *

"Was Lilly already a mercenary at the time?" Ren asked in curiosity.

"No, she was still just one of the scientists, I think," Bardel answered. "Their work attracted a lot of unwanted attention and with Lilly being in the middle of the group, they were a target for all sorts of people. Lots of 'em were trying to get Lilly on their side — most tried money but Lilly came from a filthy rich family, so that's fucking useless. Some of them tried blackmail but Lilly was much better at blackmailing than they could ever be."

Bardel chuckled at the memory. He was dubious of her at first since she looked like the prim and proper type — ' _all prissy and sparkles and shit',_ as he called it — But he was quickly proven wrong when the girl got all his enemies off his back in one phone call.

* * *

"There! Now you owe me! You'll join me now, right?"

The smile on her face was like she just won the lottery or something. I hadn't even agreed to anything, she just did all those things on her own. Like, who the fuck asked her to take care of my problems for me? Now I was stuck with a prissy little princess that had too much time and money on her hands because she felt like recruiting me as a bodyguard.

"What are you hesitating for? I have a whole new world of opportunities for you! You love fighting, don't you?"

The words she said caught my interest. A whole new world of opportunities? Sounds like salesman crap. But she knew I love fighting. Thinking back, it should've been no surprise that she already knew a lot about me.

Her eyes were glimmering while she looked me square in the eyes.

"I know someone you can fight. Someone you can't beat even if you give it your best." She leaned in close and whispered. "The best part is that you can fight her as much as you want and she'll keep bringing you down no matter what you do."

I knew she was just taunting me but the idea that someone that good was out there was such a sweet fucking deal for me that I almost didn't care about anything else anymore. I wanted to quickly accept the offer but I managed to hold myself back and think a little before answering.

"How am I supposed to believe all that crap?" I asked doubtfully.

Her smile grew wider and brighter. "You'll just have to come with me, won't you?"

"You know, it'll be easy to snap your neck like a twig." I threatened. I think my hands were itching for something to grab the time I said those edgy words.

"Then I'll bet my neck and keep it washed and clean for you should you ever find that I'm lying to you," She said with pure confidence in her eyes.

I searched her shining eyes for what felt like minutes until I finally made up my mind.

"Fine."

"Yes!" She immediately jumped in joy.

"But you gotta send my pay to my family back in Chicago. All of it."

She paused for a bit while staring at me until a soft look went over her face. "Deal," She said, extending a hand for me to shake. "I'm not really the one in charge of paying anyone but I'll be sure to talk to the one in charge for you." She winked.

"Whatever."

"By the way!"

"What the fuck do you want?"

"My name is _Aliciel Lillianne Le Fiora de La Vernillion_ but you can call me Lilly!"

She extended her hand after bowing all pompous and crap. I hesitated for a bit because, honestly, I'm not good at dealing with that fancy stuff but, whatever, I took it. I made a deal, after all.

"Bardel Juno Armas."

* * *

They finally docked at Vale and when they did, they leisurely took the shortest route to the shopping district. Without further ado, they went to the nearest shop that catered to huntsmen-wears and wares.

Bardel picked the simple stuff. Tank tops and T-shirts made of the toughest material they had, all in plain black or white colors, three of each. For pants, he went for his personal favorites, cargo pants, and fatigues just because they last longer than most while feeling comfortable when wearing them. Those ones were in green camo patterns, three of each as well.

"Did you ever fight Lilly?" Jaune asked from a nearby aisle, perusing through various articles of clothing as well.

"Oh yeah." Bardel laughed as the memory of his first fight with Lilly resurfaced. "She sucked dogshit ass at fighting at day one but she's a fast learner. All my spars with her used to end with me just flicking her forehead and her sitting down on her fat ass the moment the match started."

"Really? That's kinda hard to believe after seeing her and Tiella knock each other out."

"Like I said, she's a fast learner," Bardel emphasized. "There's no one out there that absorbs things better than her. She's just plain great at everything. If she isn't, then she just hasn't tried it yet."

Ren quietly listened from a different aisle as he, too, perused clothes.

"Dancing, singing, engineering, programming, smithing, sewing, cooking, fencing, hand to hand, archery, gunslinging, studying, teaching, playing any kind of musical instrument, mathematics, science, and tons more. She also knows over 20 languages in their perfect grammar. Any teacher she said she had in the past didn't last longer than 3 days. She's honestly the perfect superwoman — not an exaggeration to say she has all the fucking talents in the world."

"That's…"

Jaune couldn't think of anything to say. It was harder to believe than the fact that Pyrrha was the girl on his favorite cereal box and that she was now his teammate, even more, her leader.

Ren couldn't believe his ears as well. He thought Pyrrha was already an amazing person. If he chose to believe the words of Bardel, then he wouldn't think of Lilly as amazing.

Oh, no. Not amazing.

He would think of Lilly as intimidating, _terrifying,_ even. And it shamed him to admit it, especially when Lilly seemed like such a sweet and energetic girl.

Oblivious to the thoughts of his two companions, Bardel brought the clothes he picked out towards the dressing room to try them out. Meanwhile, the boys had a short talk with each other while perusing other goods.

"Hey, Ren."

"Yes?"

"What do you think of Bardel? Of the three of them?"

Ren paused to think. He'd truthfully been thinking about the trio since the time he had been waiting for Jaune and Bardel to arrive at the airship dock at Beacon.

"I'm not quite sure yet," Ren stated. "but I believe that their presence here has changed and will continue to change our lives. And I have no proof, but... I feel that it will be beneficial to us."

Jaune digested Ren's words in his mind with a few acknowledging nods of his own. "Yeah, I think they're good people too. Bardel's a little intimidating but hearing him talk so much about his team made me realize he's just a little bad with social stuff like me."

"Broadly speaking, I believe the same when it comes to you, my friends. You and Pyrrha, Team RWBY as a whole, everyone Nora and I have met since coming to Beacon has changed so much in our lives and we're grateful for it, for everything."

Surprised by the sudden bout of honest words from his normally laconic teammate, Jaune couldn't help but feel oddly proud of being held in such high regard.

After a couple of minutes, Bardel came out of the dressing room with his new clothes on. He approached the two while carrying the rest of his goods in a small basket.

"I'm taking these," He said.

Jaune looked at his clothing articles and gave him a friendly smile. "Alright, anywhere else you wanna go after this?"

Bardel shook his head. "No, I'm good."

"In that case, let's go pay for your stuff."

"What about you guys? Not getting anything?"

Jaune and Ren shared a look. "Nah, we don't really have the cash right now."

Bardel nodded in acknowledgment. Even if he wanted to treat them, the wallet he was holding on to wasn't his in the first place, so he couldn't. With all those concluded, they approached the cash register and immediately the cashier lady was already caught staring at the trio — particularly Bardel. As he casually approached, Bardel and the cashier lady stared at each other for a moment without saying anything.

Jaune and Ren wondered what was holding them both up but before it could go any longer, Bardel placed his basket on the desk.

"These ones and the one I'm wearing."

The cashier lady snapped out of her reverie and immediately put on her service mask. "Thank you, sir. This will only take a few minutes."

As soon as his things were in bags, the trio of boys immediately left the store. Meanwhile, the cashier lady, along with other store clerks, were watching them until they left.

"T-That boy was quite large."

"Yeah, must be a Huntsman already."

"I've never seen a Huntsman built so thick."

While the clerks were gossiping, the cashier lady had a slight flush on her face as she idly listened. "Y-Yeah. He was really... se-... _intimidating!_ I meant to say ' _intimidating!'_ "

Her friends at the store gave her a look and quickly they understood her little slip of the tongue. One of them, a leopard faunus, hugged her from behind all of a sudden, surprising the girl.

"That guy was totally your type, wasn't he?"

"N-No!? Excuse me!? What are you saying!?" The cashier lady quickly denied in a high-pitched shy voice. She pushed her friend off of her and straightened out her clothes. "We still have work to do so buzz off and go back to your stations!"

They all looked at the girl with wry grins on their faces. "Sure."

* * *

Right, so, back to what I was saying.

After the deal, I joined her back to some crummy place I forgot the name of. I just know that we did a lot of plane switching because she said she also had some people going after her. With abilities like ours, especially with the kind of person Lilly is, there were bound to be tons of people just wanting to get their hands on us.

Me, Lilly, and Tiella — we're sorta like powerhouses wherever we go. I'm strong, plain and simple. Lilly's talented as fuck. Tiella's the most wanted terrorist in the world — they later told me it was a case so blown up from exaggeration that it was far beyond saving anymore and just rode the notoriety to get jobs from it. Something about a job in a holy place called The Vatican where I'm from that ended with her getting pinned as public enemy number one.

Anyway, after days of sitting on my ass just flying around the world, we finally arrived at her camp. That was when I met her.

She was the first person I looked at and thought, _"Damn, that bitch looks dangerous."_

Unlike me who was bred from street fights and fight clubs, she looked like she was bred for war. Compared to now, she always seemed on edge — always anticipating an attack or something.

So, the first thing I did was pick a fight with her.

I walked up to her and said, "You! Miss tall, cool, and broody!"

And then I got fucked up in 3 minutes. She was dodging me until the last 5 seconds of it when she broke my nose with a punch and I landed on my ass.

"Where the fuck did you pick this piece of shit from Lillianne? Are you sure he's not just a dumbass punk from the street? Just 'cause he's a little strong doesn't mean he's hot shit."

"What was that!?" I was just about ready to have another go until she looked me dead in the eyes and pulled her pistol up between my brows.

"Shut the fuck up." Her voice just had this tone of ' _I'm not in the fucking mood to deal with your crap'_. I'm pretty fucking sure she hated everyone's gut aside from Karen's, her partner, back then. "I wasn't talking to you. You're no one."

I damn near shit myself because I was goddamn sure she would've killed me if Lilly hadn't stepped in.

What? Nah, nah. My Essentia was still new so I wasn't as sturdy. I woulda been dead like any normal person. Also, I didn't know how my Essentia worked, I just knew that it was working whenever I needed it to work.

The bang rang in my right ear and I think I turned deaf from the sound for a few minutes on that ear because of it — my ear was bleeding too. Lilly pushed the gun away just in time before the bullet went through my fucking skull. Good thing the bullet went through the ground instead.

"Now, now, Tielle. Don't go killing off my investment. He'll deliver! He just needs the proper time and training to grow!"

"Who told you you could call me that? Don't play fucking chummy with me." Tiella shoved Lilly and walked away. "Fucking kids. Don't involve me in your bullshit unless it's for work, for fuck's sake."

I was holding my fucked up ear and talked to Lilly. "The hell's her problem?"

She smiled at me apologetically and helped me up. "Sorry about her, as I told you before, she's the camp's mercenary. There are technically two of them here, she and her partner, but her partner's our medic. You'll be teaming up with her on certain missions but you basically have the same job. Bodyguarding and escorting us through our venture."

After that, I just knew I had to beat her. To win against her just once.

I've grown far stronger than I was back then, and I'm damn sure I could do it but...

...that day hasn't come.

If she can go toe to toe with me when I'm using Iron Will, I can't imagine winning when the time comes that she's fine with using Hollowing.

* * *

It was already dusk when they returned to Beacon.

"Thanks for coming with me. Talk to you guys later."

As they walked their separate ways, the two boys wondered about the kind of person Tiella was in his story from the kind of person they knew Tiella to be and it was no exaggeration to say that there was a _huge_ difference.

Jaune and Ren arrived at their dorm and they were quickly greeted by Nora toppling them both over into the hallway floor with a diving hug.

"Why didn't you guys invite me!?"

It was like getting hit by a lariat from a high powered, human-sized chihuahua.

Pyrrha peaked from inside and smiled at the sight. "How was your day?"

Jaune and Ren looked up while Nora sat on top of them.

"I-It was fine. Nora, could you get off? We're kinda blocking the hallway."

"Nora, please. It was a boys' day out. I'm sure you'd like to spend some girl time with Pyrrha from time to time too." Ren said from under Nora.

Nora looked at Ren and Jaune with a pout. Pyrrha reached a hand on Nora's shoulder and gave her a small pleading smile. Reluctantly, Nora sighed and got off.

" _Fiiiine._ "

"We'll invite you next time, okay?" Ren said to placate her energetic partner.

In response, Nora beamed him a bright smile.

They went inside their dorm and sat in their usual places. Jaune on his bed, Pyrrha on hers, Nora and Ren on Ren's bed.

Jaune spoke first. "Bardel told us how he met Lilly and Tiella."

"Oh?" Pyrrha reacted in curiosity.

"Yeah," Jaune said while hesitantly scratching his nape. "I'm not sure if I could call his past a troubled one but he told us that he grew up fighting in the streets."

Pyrrha and Nora listened quietly as Jaune recounted what he remembered of Bardel's story. As soon as he was done, they both had looks of contemplation on their faces.

"I never knew Tiella had such a rough past..." Nora said, slightly dejected.

Pyrrha, meanwhile, was stirring in her thoughts trying to remember her past interactions with her self-proclaimed big sister.

 _"'I only take them out when I kill', right? And Bardel also believed that she was bred for war — being a mercenary since her pre-teens, it's almost certainly an apt description."_

"I can never imagine what that would be like," Pyrrha said to herself aloud. "Nonetheless, the Tiella we know is a changed person and I like her very much. And right now, she's troubled because her friend is unwell. All I can think of to help her is to be there for her — for them."

Jaune, Ren, and Nora looked to Pyrrha with knowing smiles on their faces, wordlessly agreeing with their resident redhead.

* * *

In the hallways going to the infirmary, Bardel walked as he remembered his short trip to Vale.

 _"That was pretty boring."_

Though, despite his thoughts, he had a small smile on his face.

 _"Boring can be nice from time to time."_

As he was about to turn into a corner, he was stopped when he heard a girl's voice calling out to her from behind.

"Hey, you."

A little irked by the rude caller, he turned to give her a nonchalant look and found two girls approaching him — one with a beret and sunglasses while the other had long rabbit ears. The one that called him was the beret girl, and while she appeared confident as they approached, he couldn't say the same for the rabbit girl with how she appeared to be trembling though.

"Coco! You shouldn't call for people like that, that's just rude!" The bunny girl said in a low voice.

"Well, I don't know his name." The girl called Coco shrugged.

He looked around the hallways to check whether they were actually calling someone else instead. Seeing that they were alone in the hallways, he fully turned to face them and raised a silent, questioning brow.

"The name's Coco," She said while pulling the bunny girl to her side. "This girl's name is Velvet."

"Okay," Bardel answered noncommittally.

"Yours?" Coco asked with a brow raised.

"Bardel."

"Well, Bardel," She started while crossing her arms. "How's Chelly?"

Confused, Bardel raised his brow with a slight tilt of his head in wonder. Seeing the reaction, Coco pursed her lips and huffed with a smile.

"Girl, I'm talking about Tiella!" Coco clarified. "You're her teammate, right?"

 _"Did she just call me 'girl'?"_

"What's it to you?" Bardel asked warily, untrusting of the girl he just met.

"What it is to me," Coco lowered her shades to give him a look, " _to us_ — is that we haven't seen Chelly in a week since the explosion at the clocktower and we're worried about her! We were told that we shouldn't go visiting the infirmary if it's just to see her, that if we should come, it should be because we need to use the infirmary!"

Bardel distrustfully eyed the girls. He was ready to just turn and leave, ignore the girls and forget about them but the look in Coco's eyes showed a glint that appeared truthfully worried for his friend and teammate.

"Please," Velvet walked up from beside Coco with pleading eyes, "may we visit her?"

Bardel stared at the girls with a nonplussed look on his face, contemplating in his mind what to do with them. He hadn't even carried his bags to his dorm — he just wanted to return Tiella's wallet as soon as he could before anything else. After about a minute of him silently thinking things over and the girls anxiously waiting, he turned and walked away.

Velvet's ears dropped in disappointment while Coco clicked her tongue in anger. Before they could do anything about it, however, Bardel called out to them without looking back.

"Just don't make too much noise, Lilly's resting."

Surprised, Coco and Velvet shared looks with each other. Velvet smiled gratefully while saying her thanks to Bardel while Coco shook her head in exasperation accompanied by a wry smile on her face.

 _"Why are boys so awkward?"_ She thought with a sigh.

As they approached the infirmary, Velvet picked up a tune with her ears. They twitched in search of the direction of the tune and as they came closer, she was pleasantly surprised when she realized the familiar sound — or rather, the familiar voice. A small smile spread across her face as they neared the door and she listened closely to the song.

"The cities grow~

The rivers flow~

Where you are, I'll never know~

But I'm still here~..."

Bardel walked through the door, noting Tiella's song, trying to remember what it was. Tiella heard someone walk in though she didn't care to look who it was — she simply continued her song as she idly caressed Lilly's hand and swept her fringes to the side, revealing more of her face to the light of the room.

"If you were right and I was wrong~

Why are you the one who's gone~

And I'm still here~..."

Velvet and Coco paused by the door. Coco was surprised as it was her first time hearing Tiella sing anything at all — and it was to a tune she couldn't recognize too. She liked her singing voice based on the small smile she was wearing as she listened.

Velvet smiled as she listened as well, though as she slowly understood the lyrics, she became a little sad and confused, wondering whether singing it was how she was expressing what she was feeling or if she simply felt like singing that particular song for no reason.

"The lights go out, the bridges burn~

Once you're gone, you can't return~

But I'm still here~...

Remember how you used to say I'd be the one to run away~

But I'm still here~..."

The song ended there and only then did Tiella give her visitors a look. She immediately saw Bardel and was about to greet him but then she saw Coco grinning at her while Velvet gave her an almost apologetic smile. She was stunned as soon as she saw them both and quickly her face reddened when she realized they heard her singing.

"H-Hello, Tiella." Velvet waved as she chuckled weakly in a feeble attempt to dispel the awkward silence away.

Coco grinned a little wider as she gave her 'the look' from behind her shades. "Nice song, Chelly," She said while walking to the opposite bed to take a seat. "What's the name?"

Tiella remained silent, avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room. She felt a hand poking at her arm, so she turned and saw Bardel returning her wallet back to her. She quickly took it and pocketed it back where it was before clearing her throat and put up a nonchalant front, looking out the window to answer Coco.

"I'm Still Here by Vertical Horizon."

Coco nodded at her words. "I'll check it out later."

"Don't bother, you won't find it anywhere."

Confused, Coco raised her brow and tilted her head while Velvet did the same. "Why's that?" Coco asked. "Don't tell me, you wrote the song and it isn't up anywhere yet?" She asked eagerly.

"Yeah, I wish." Tiella retorted wryly while Bardel chuckled at the guess.

Coco and Velvet were confused even further but before they could begin questioning Tiella, she spoke with a solemn look on her face.

"Why don't I tell you where it's from? It'll be an interesting story — _out of this world,_ you could even say," She said, and despite sounding as if she was merely joking, her tone and expression made them believe it was anything but.

Velvet took the seat beside the bed Coco was sitting on, noting the sudden shift in mood with the way Tiella spoke. It was then that they heard about Tiella's, about the trio's past before coming to Beacon.

Of how they came from a world different from theirs where there was no Aura but instead Skills that they called Essentia.

Of how she and her friends were mercenaries tasked with escorting archaeologists in an attempt to unravel the secrets of Essentia.

Of how she accidentally stumbled into their world due to a relic they found hidden in an old and decrepit tomb.

Of how Bardel and Lilly searched for her for two weeks until they met up at the docks in Vale.

Of the reason how she and Lilly sparred the way they did.

Of the reason Lilly became indisposed.

And of how she was the only one capable of dispelling her nightmares all this time.

It was just past 7 in the evening, at least an hour had gone by since Tiella began recounting her tale to them. Her words felt surreal — highly unbelievable, even — but they couldn't help but believe in Tiella's words. And as Coco and Velvet stirred in their thoughts while Tiella and Bardel let their story, or rather, their reality sink in, there came knocks on the door.

Turning their heads, they saw Glynda coming in. She was surprised when she saw that Tiella had visitors already. Remembering Tiella's request for little to no visitors, she quickly apologized and turned to leave but was stopped before she could by Coco and Velvet.

"Ms. Goodwitch, it's okay. We were just about to leave." Coco smiled as she stood from the bed.

Velvet smiled and turned to give Tiella a look. "Thank you, Tiella. It's good to see that you're doing well."

Tiella chuckled in self-deprecation. "About as well as I can be at least. Thanks for visiting."

As the girls walked to leave, Bardel followed just behind them. After the girls left the room, he paused beside Glynda to put a hand on her shoulder and speak in whispers.

"I was supposed to tell you this earlier but I didn't see you. She wanted to apologize for everything this past week. She misses you too, so go easy on her."

With Tiella's little favor over with and done, he left the two alone.

Glynda stood by the door for a moment, looking between Tiella and the others that just exited. She was thinking over Bardel's words for her until she was taken away from her thoughts by Tiella coughing into her fist.

"Wanna take a seat?"

Glynda looked at Tiella with a blank expression, noting the tired but genuine smile on the girl's face. Then she saw Tiella's hand enclosed around Lilly's and immediately, a burning, churning sensation spread from her core. Not wanting to be rude but also not wanting to come closer lest Tiella sees her expression, she chose to sit on the furthest bed away from her.

The act wasn't lost on Tiella, though she didn't truly understand why she did so. She only understood that seeing Glynda sitting so far away from her was prickling at her heart. She put up her facade — her casual smile — even though she realized that Glynda could easily see through it.

"What brings you here, Glynda? Did you miss me?" Tiella said jokingly. A part of her sincerely wished Glynda would say 'yes' even if it was a joke.

Glynda saw the look on Tiella's face and her attempt to lighten up their mood. She wanted to go along with it, to reassure Tiella that it wasn't all bad, but...

"No, I was just wondering whether you'd need a fresh change of clothes again," She said in her own facade, the business mask she wore the first time they met, not as potential enemies, but as simple co-workers.

Whether Tiella felt anything about it or not, she didn't know, but she did curse herself greatly for acting the way she was doing.

"I see," Tiella nodded, her smile never cracking even the tiniest bit. She purposefully looked Glynda in the eyes. "Yes, please. I'm sorry to keep bothering you like this so much."

Glynda scoffed lightly. "You always were, so this is nothing new," She said without any bite to her words, hoping to return Tiella's attempt to lighten up the mood.

What happened instead was the opposite as Tiella's breath audibly hitched just a tiny bit. Glynda's eyes widened when Tiella was blinking her eyes while looking away from her.

"Sorry about that," She chuckled weakly while smiling apologetically.

 _"No... this isn't what I wanted."_

Glynda's chest felt a stinging pain gripping her so and it nearly made her clutch her chest with her hand.

 _"Did I really come here just to do this to her? Was I always this petty?"_

"I don't really wanna bother you anymore, so..." Tiella spoke again, her voice was soft and weak — like a fragile thing that would break in the gentle breeze of the cold night — however, unlike before, she wasn't capable of meeting Glynda's gaze. "So, just leave it to me. I'll take care of it one way or another." She smiled while looking down, hoping that it was enough to placate Glynda. There were a few seconds of silence between them, each one unwilling to break it in fear of making things worse until Tiella spoke again.

 _"No... that's not it. Don't show me that face."_

"So," She said, looking at Glynda once more with her brightest smile. "Thanks for everything, Glynda."

 _"What do you mean 'Thanks for everything'...? Do you not wish to see me anymore? Is it because of the way I'm acting…!?"_

Glynda abruptly stood from her seat and quickly walked towards the door. Without looking back and with her head hung low, "In that case, I'll be off. Have a nice night, Tiella."

She didn't see it, but Tiella's facade was no longer. Her expression was contorted in sadness and pain, her free hand tightly holding onto her chest as she looked away from Glynda to hide the tears welling at the corner of her eyes.

"You too."

Glynda couldn't help the morose expression from showing across her face. She bit her lower lip in regret of everything she'd said and done. She looked back at Tiella and her eyes widened as tears raced down her fair cheek when she saw Tiella appearing small as her back and shoulders trembled ever so slightly while facing her.

Tiella silently sniveled in her seat with her back turned to the door, waiting and hoping for Glynda to leave so that she may let out her emotions without having to worry about anyone seeing her. She wiped the tears that fell as quietly as she could while she waited for the door to shut close behind her.

After a few seconds, the doors clicked audibly just as she'd been waiting for and not even a second later did she finally stop holding her tears back.

"I'm sorry..." She apologized as her breath hitched a little and her shoulders trembled. "I'm sorry..." She repeated the words over and over despite her ragged breathing. "I'm sorry. I'm _so, so sorry,_ Glynda... but Lilly needs me more than you do."

She let her grief take over, tears flowed non stop as she wept and yet, despite her immense sadness, she dared not to let herself be heard even when she believed that she was alone with no one to hear her.

So, just after dusk, alone in a room no one to see or hear her — her silent plea rung in her mind over and over.

 _"Please don't hate me."_

* * *

Glynda was torn.

She didn't mean to do what she did!

To say what she said!

She just wanted to see Tiella — to worry about her, care about her! Because she _missed_ her!

She didn't want to go there and release whatever stupid pent-up frustrations she'd been holding onto at the girl!

That just wasn't it!

It wasn't it at all!

 _"That wasn't it at all..! I didn't want to do any of it! I just—"_

Glynda briskly walked back to her apartment while keeping her head down lest her students see her in her moment of self-inflicted torment. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she leaned her back on the door and let herself fall apart sitting on the floor while clutching her head in frustration.

Frustration at herself for acting so petty.

For doing everything she didn't want to do.

For further hurting the girl who was already hurting in the first place.

Her lips quivered as she bit them, tears long since spilt. After a few minutes of wallowing in self-pity and anger, she stood and lifelessly walked to her room. She tossed her things at the bed and just let herself plop down on her back on the bed, kicking her heels away.

She turned to her side, letting her puffy red eyes glance around the room.

 _"I've always slept alone."_

She gripped the bedsheet in deep regret as she remembered the smile of pure joy when Tiella saw her the moment she came into the room only to shatter when she vented whatever displeasure born of jealousy that she had at her.

 _"But now..."_

Her clenched fist tightened at the pain in her chest as tears spilt even more.

 _"'I'm back!'_

 _'Smells good, what's cooking?'_

 _'You're the best!'_

 _'God, I love you'_

 _'Goodnight, Glynda'_

 _'I love you'."_

Her breath hitched as she soaked her pillow in tears. The room felt colder to her. She spent the next half hour tearing herself apart for every memory of Tiella being sweet to her until the fatigue of the day took over, letting her sleep with her heart sunk deep in anger and regret.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I'm sorry this took so long._

 _I had to find a way to break my heart without going into a relationship just so I can write some angsty stuff — hopefully it's chock full of angst for you guys. I got so into it I skipped work for a day because of it, hahaha._

 _Please don't do what I did._

 _Now, to answer that one question from Notreadyforjojo:_

 _Ozpin didn't do anything wrong, at least intentionally. He just unlocked Lilly's Aura hoping that it would do her good._

 _Now, thank you for reading Chapter 30 of Lost Star! Big things are coming and I'm hoping you're gonna love them, I know I will!_

 _See ya in the next chapter!_


	31. Chapter 31: For My Dearly Beloved

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Quick update! I forgot to tell you that I posted a traditional sketch of Tiella up on my Twitter: notweissschnee._

 _It's nothing as great as the one done by my good friend, but it's how I personally picture Tiella to look like._

 _I hope you see it and I hope you like it!_

* * *

It was the dawn of the next morning and Ruby Rose had just woken up.

It had become customary to her that she rose and shone at around 6 in the morning, weekday or not. For obvious reasons, the rest of her team did the same.

"Let's get up, team! Let's do our run and see if we can visit Celeste today!"

Ruby beamed her sleepy teammates a bright smile. She hadn't seen Tiella nor Lilly in over a week, so she was quite eager to see whether they could catch up for a little bit.

"Can you not keep quiet? There's no need to shout."

Weiss answered from the bed below hers. Ruby jumped off, landing on the floor with a soft thud. She turned around and faced Weiss, grabbing her by the hands and pulling her off the bed.

"Come on! The sooner we finish, the sooner we see Celeste!"

"You really missed her, huh?"

Yang peeked from atop her bed, still a little groggy from the drowsiness. She yawned and tears formed at the corner of her eyes as she stretched her arms and back. She jumped down in the same way Ruby did and she twisted her body left and right, her spine audibly popping through the motion. She did the same with her neck by swiftly and forcefully tilting her neck both ways. Afterward, she yawned once more while stretching and popping her fingers before finally giving Ruby and Weiss a look, noting the disgust in Weiss's eyes and the worry in Ruby's face.

"What?" Yang asked with a curious sideways tilt of her head.

"Doesn't that hurt your back?" Weiss asked, eyes squinted in disbelief.

"Eh," Yang shrugged, "It hurts a bit the first time but it feels really great once you get used to it. Kinda like se—"

And then a swift pillow was thrown at her face by a red-faced, scowling Weiss. "You uncultured brute!"

While Weiss, Yang, and Ruby shared in their usual morning banter, Blake was blinking her eyes awake after being woken up by the sudden noise in the room. She turned her head to the side and saw Weiss in a headlock by Yang while Ruby was between them in an attempt to separate them. She sighed and sat upright, stretching her neck, shoulders, and back with an audible soft moan — mindful not to hit the top bunk with her hands.

She yawned and hunched her back afterward before standing from her bed and doing it up neatly. As she walked to the bathroom with her things, she gave her rowdy team one last amused glance.

Hearing the bathroom door shut with a soft click, Weiss, who was stuck in Yang's arm lock on the floor, gasped.

"Blake's gonna take all the hot water!"

With her attention elsewhere, Yang loosened her hold enough for Weiss to escape. She jumped high and stood atop Ruby's bed — the owner of the said bed looking on in confusion — before jumping down and crashing the sharp of her elbow in the middle of Yang's stomach.

"Oof!" Yang let out along with all the air in her lungs.

Weiss rolled away and stood while gasping with hands on her knees. "Now…" she said breathily, "now we're even."

Yang rolled on the floor while catching her breath until she lied on her back. She breathed heavily for a few seconds until she let out a laugh.

"You got me." She chuckled. "Blake's not gonna take a bath until after our run, almost forgot about that."

Weiss grinned smugly, proud that she managed to fool Yang for a moment.

"I didn't think you'd elbow drop me from Ruby's bed though." Yang grinned.

"You learn a thing or two when one of your teachers is a hand to hand specialist."

"True that." Yang nodded with a point of her finger before relaxing her head back on the floor. "I totally wanna try the same moves, to be honest."

Ruby laughed at Yang and Weiss's banter, amused that their relationship had evolved to the point that they can wrestle with no hard feelings at the end of it.

Who'd've thought that Weiss, of all people, would willingly participate in something involving close physical proximity and have fun with it?

 _"I guess all that time receiving head pats and side hugs from Celeste and Yang made her open up a little bit more. I hope my hugs helped too."_

Ruby thought as she helped her sister up. "And then you can boost it up with your Semblance and you'll be all _'kaboom!'_ like Bardy!"

Yang's face lit up at the idea. She took Ruby's hand to help herself up with a kip-up like Tiella usually did.

"That's a great idea, sis!" She said while grabbing Ruby by the waist and raising her high up like a child.

"Y-Yang! Put me down!" Ruby squirmed.

"That's a horrible idea, Ruby!"

The sisters looked to the side and saw a frantic Weiss looking at them.

"Haven't you seen the utter chaos and destruction Bardel can do!? You'll blow Beacon off the cliff!"

They shared a look, Ruby shrugged while Yang grinned. Yang let Ruby fall and land on her feet. They both turned to face Weiss as they both answered at the same time.

"But it'll be awesome!" "Yang wouldn't be able to do that."

The sisters shared a look with each other once more, and while Ruby wore a wry smile on her face, Yang hung her mouth slightly ajar as she looked at her sister disbelievingly.

Yang threw her hands up in the air in dramatic fashion. "My own sister doesn't believe in me!"

Ruby just hung her mouth agape, not knowing what to say back to her sister. Weiss simply watched on with a blank look on her face.

A short moment later, Blake came out of the bathroom, fresh as can be in her workout clothes.

"I'm done," She said while lightly hand combing her hair.

Weiss walked to the door and was only scant centimeters away from touching the knob when a red blur rushed past her and rose petals blinded her view. Weiss fell on her bum on the floor, eyes wide and mouth hung open. Dumbfounded beyond disbelief, she immediately stood and started banging on the door.

"Ruby Rose!"

"I can't hear you!"

"You are _so_ dead once you come out of there!"

Yang, ever the big sister figure of the team, just put her hand on her waist and watched in amusement alongside Blake.

"We're visiting Tiella after our run, right?"

"That's the plan."

"Hopefully she wouldn't mind all of us going together."

"Yeah."

Yang had a contemplative look over her face. All of them were worried about Lilly but at the same time, they worried about Tiella as well. She'd even go as far as saying she was more worried about Tiella than Lilly.

* * *

The time was 8:06 am, Saturday, the 8th day of the 6th month.

A bright red light glowed softly within the confines of the infirmary of Beacon Academy. A red-haired girl was deep in focus as she concentrated on the power of the soul within flowing within her. Atop the palm of her hand, the red light — soft and warm — danced and flickered like the flames of a bonfire.

The girl's visage was serene as she moved her fingers in a beckoning motion — like summoning her soul to the physical realm on the tips of her fingers. The red glow reacted in accordance with her wishes, moving like smokey water in the air, trailing behind her fingertips within the morning-lit room.

Her eyes were sharp and focused, but also serene and gentle as she watched the flow of Aura on her left hand. With her expression unchanging, she lightly clenched her fist, the soft glow brightening in magnitudes until it swallowed whatever sunlight had gone in through the window whole. She willed her Aura towards the middle of her palm after opening it slightly, containing it such that the powerful bright red light condensed itself within the small space of her half-open palm.

A vortex luminescent of the color of her soul — that was the end result of her motions. She spent the next five minutes keeping the vortex up for as long as she could, stabilizing it lest it ran rampant and possibly injure the sleeping girl whose hand she held. Once she could no longer keep her hold, she softly clenched her fist, dissipating the energy she gathered into thin air.

She felt slightly winded, figuring that such an exercise of power and control was enough for at least the next few minutes.

 _"I'm getting better."_

She sighed leaning back in her chair with slumped shoulders.

 _"With nothing to do and nowhere to go these past few weeks, Aura practice is the most I can do to improve myself._

 _And... well... keep myself occupied, I guess."_

She looked back at the sleeping girl to her right, noting a serene expression unmarred by any nightmares. Last night had been different for her even excluding the unfortunate parting between her and Glynda. For the entire night, Lillianne did not show signs of having any nightmares — not a single one.

Not a tiny crease of her brow nor the slightest crookening of the gentle sleeping smile on her face and Tiella was both happy and ever thankful for it.

It had been the first night since Lilly fell asleep that she'd slept soundly. Perhaps it was due to exhaustion, emotionally or mentally, she cared not much which it was — a good night's sleep was one she was happy about the next morning.

 _"Glynda, she..."_

She shook her head and followed a different train of thought.

 _"Aura's completely different from everything I was taught. It's instinctive and intrinsic, like breathing. Though I still need to practice to use it, so I guess it's more like walking than breathing."_

She raised her left hand again to observe her palm. She summoned her Aura and almost instantly, her hand was aglow, enveloped in red.

 _"Like I just need to be conscious of its existence and I can will it to do anything I want, like moving a finger."_

She focused her Aura at the tip of her index finger, holding it up in front of her face as her Aura condensed and brightened exponentially. She held it up for a few seconds until she reflexively turned her face to the side while tilting it back. The unmoderated condensation of Aura at the tip of her finger went beyond her capacity to stabilize and control, thus resulting in a small explosion — a rush of wind blowing up in her face.

Luckily for her, it wasn't loud nor powerful, merely a sudden breeze accompanied by a soft reverberation in the air.

 _"Well,_ _ **almost**_ _anything."_

She sighed again, looking out the window with blank wistful eyes.

 _"Gramps and Granny told me that every single gun I use is just a tool, that my real weapon was my body. So I shouldn't bother getting attached to a gun. Maintenance is important to keep your tools working and all, but if they break, they break. Move on and get a new one._

 _That's what I've been taught._

 _That's how I've always acted._

 _True, my pistols have been with me for at least 2 years now, but that's just because I'm good at maintaining 'em — not 'cause I have an attachment to them."_

She jerked her chin sideways with a forceful hand and produced a loud crack. She quickly repeated the motion in the opposite direction and let out a contented sigh.

 _"At least, not until Beacon. Following Blake's advice and taking in Ruby's words, I guess I became sentimental enough to be able to think of my babies as an actual part of me. Same with my glove."_

Remembering the person whose hand she was holding, she smiled wryly.

 _"Oh, right, sorry. Gauntlet."_

She sat with her back straightened out, rotating her shoulders backward in a slow but forceful manner, producing more cracking sounds as she also popped the fingers on her left hand one by one with her thumb. She let out a breath through her nose as she relaxed back onto her chair. With nothing else to keep her occupied, she endeavored to train her Aura control once again.

She held her left hand out and let her Aura coat it. She was about to summon Aura at the tip of her finger once again until a thought crossed her mind. Her eyes widened a little as she stirred in her thoughts. The hand that held Lilly's tightened slightly as she contemplated in her mind. She cast her glance at the sleeping girl, then her left hand, then back to the girl.

 _"Aura has healing properties, right?"_

She held out her glowing hand over Lilly's head. She let her Aura flow gently to her hand in fear of causing another minor explosion. She was about to touch the girl with only a few centimeters between making contact until she hesitated and pulled her fingers away.

 _"Does she even need healing? What sort of healing can I even do anyway? In the first place, am I capable of what I was about to do? What if I just end up fucking up her brain and damaging her further?"_

She clicked her tongue and looked out the window in irritation.

 _"Damn it."_

She scratched the back of her neck, remembering the person who taught her all she knew about Aura. Her eyes were cast down, a sullen mood taking over as she remembered the night before. She had ideas as to why Glynda had acted the way she did, but she truly did not know what it was. A tiny pinprick in her chest was felt, then, she sniffled, wiping a tear away before it could even form at the edge of her eye.

"Hey, Lilly," She spoke without taking her eyes off the floor.

"..."

"I made Glynda mad again."

"..."

"But it's different this time."

"..."

"I fucked up big time."

"..."

"Like, _really_ big."

"..."

She chuckled in self-deprecation. "But see, here's the fun part."

"..."

She shook her head in disbelief and rolled her eyes in exasperation at herself. "I don't even know what I did!"

"..."

"Real funny, right?"

"..."

She sighed and leaned forward, hanging her head low. "Right...?"

She stayed her position for a while, repeating the scene of last night over and over in her mind. Replaying their conversation as best as she could remember multiple times in an attempt to see whether there was something, anything she missed. Despite her best efforts to remember, she could only let out a frustrated sigh as heat built up within her eyes.

 _"Did I overreact last night? Wasn't she trying to make a joke? Did I make it worse by reacting so sensitively? God damn it... god damn it! God fucking damn it! It's all my fault! I never should've told her my feelings! I should've just lied to her face! Tell her I was just joking all those times ago and wanted to flirt a little! Fucking damn it!_

 _God fucking damn it!_

 _Stupid goddamned hormones!_

 _Why the fuck couldn't you just hold yourself!? Are you that horny for a goddamned fuck, you stupid dumb bitch! Now you're head over fucking heels with a woman that, by all rights, you never should've known about! You're from a literal other fucking world and you choose to fall for a woman you never even should have fucking met!_

 _Did you think it was romantic!? Like you're star-crossed lovers or some sappy bullshit like that!?_

 _That's no fucking miracle!_

 _It's a fucking mistake!_

 _This is all a fucking mistake!_

 _My fucking relationship with Glynda is a god damn mistake!_

 _Everything about me is a god damn mistake!_

 _I never should've—...!"_

Unseen behind the curtain of her red fringes, her brows furrowed, her eyes shut tight, and her teeth clenched.

"I really don't know what to do anymore..." Her voice was weak, shaking and breaking. "What should I do?" She sniffled. "Someone tell me what to do..."

A single tear fell on the floorboard.

And along with it, whatever hopes of understanding what she did wrong.

" _Glynda hates me and I don't know what to do...!_ "

As her hand clenched whilst clutching her face in frustration, she felt a hand softly squeezing her own. The sudden sensation surprised her, snapping and pulling her out of her self-loathing. She raised her head and looked to the side to see a teary-eyed Lilly.

"Tielle..."

"Wha...?" She slowly sat upright, confusedly eyeing the sleeping girl. And for the next few seconds, that was all she could do.

"It's okay, Tielle..."

Tiella's eyes widened even further as she listened and watched Lilly gently nuzzling her hand with her cheek.

"...you can let it out..."

Her eyes softened, a small smile appearing on her face. She gently wiped the tear that fell from Lilly's eyes.

She chuckled softly, amused enough with her dear friend that she'd almost forgotten that she was having a pity party.

"How could I when you're already doing it for me?"

 _"Still looking out for me even though you're in a coma, huh? You're one hell of a woman, Lillianne."_

* * *

As Team RWBY made their way towards the infirmary, they were suddenly stopped by Blake when she put a hand over Ruby's shoulder from behind.

Ruby tilted her head as she turned to face her. "What's up, Blake? Something wrong?"

"I'm not sure if it's a good idea to go right now," Blake said with a hesitant look on her face.

Confused even further, Ruby couldn't help but furrow her brows together.

"Did you hear something?" Yang asked discreetly, mindful not to give any such hints about Blake.

Blake gave her a look and nodded. Weiss took a step closer and leaned in with a hand on Yang's and Blake's shoulders.

"What is it?" She asked with slight anxiety to her tone.

Hesitant ambers met anxious blues, she wasn't sure if she should say anything. After a short moment of debating in her own mind, she decided to tell them. She'd already suggested delaying their visit after all.

"She's crying."

Weiss, Yang, and Ruby expressed their surprise in their own ways. Weiss furrowed her brow and tilted her head sideways, Yang pursed her lips and raised one brow, and Ruby went wide-eyed as she moved her head back. The one thing in common each girl shared was the initial feeling of disbelief at the thought of the Tiella crying. The next was the reluctant acceptance of Blake's words followed by curiosity over why.

"Like, " _crying_ " crying?" Yang asked to confirm.

"Yes."

"Did she say anything?" Weiss asked.

Blake paused for a moment, debating in her mind once more.

"Yes."

Ruby was about to ask what it was but Blake cut her off before she could speak.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. I don't think you should hear it from me."

"But that's…" Ruby tried to reason, but couldn't immediately find one.

Yang looked at her worried sister and with eyes resolute, she answered for her.

"All the more reason for us to visit her now, Blake."

Blake looked back at Yang with a confused tilt of her head. Weiss as well did the same and would have voiced her question had Yang not continued.

"It's better for her to know that we're there for her. That we're not just paying her lip service when we say it." She wrapped an arm over Ruby's shoulder and pulled her close for a side hug. "Besides, I'm pretty sure she misses us too." She grinned.

Ruby smiled, glad that her sister understood her even when she couldn't say anything. Blake and Weiss looked back at Yang with blank contemplative eyes. They shared a look with each other as if to affirm their decisions.

"Okay then." Blake smiled. "Let's visit."

Weiss smiled as well, voicing her idea at her team. "Why don't we bring her a gift? Breakfast would be a good start."

"I'll lend her a book."

"O-Oh! Then, umm… I'll… uh… give her my latest issue of The Huntsman Ring!"

"Really, Ruby?"

"Yeah, sis!"

"But isn't that your favorite weapons magazine?"

"Mhmm! It's why I'm giving it to her. Because I know she'll find something useful in it in the future! She'll learn all about the kinds of upgrades she can do for her kit."

"What about you, Yang? Anything for our teacher and friend?" Blake teased, knowing full well that her partner won't be able to give one when asked on the spot.

"I'll, uh… I'll…"

Blake, Weiss, and Ruby gave her teasing looks and smug grins — amused that they were able to put Yang on the spot unable to answer immediately.

Yang stalked towards the cafeteria with a hand on her chin in thought. "I'll think about it on the way."

Her teammates could be heard chuckling at her response as she led the way.

* * *

A short trip back to their room after grabbing breakfast for Tiella from the cafeteria later, they made their way towards the infirmary. As they turned the corner, they saw a small crowd of familiar people seemingly going to the same place.

"Hey, Jaune!" Ruby greeted with a wave.

Team JNPR was coming from the other end of the hall and Ren seemed to be carrying a tray topped with pancakes.

Lots of them.

So many, really.

Jesus, that's a lot of pancakes, holy crap.

"You guys having a pancake party or something?" Yang asked in amusement.

"Yeah!" Nora beamed. "It's for Tiella!"

Team RWBY shared looks with one another and smiled wryly. Weiss walked forward with a tray carrying most of Tiella's favorites. The Sloppy Tiella, some burgers, sliders, hotdogs, and a few small cartons of milk.

"Looks like we had the same idea, huh?" Jaune smiled wryly.

Both teams shared smiles with each other at the weird but not unwelcome coincidence.

"Let's go then! I just hope Celeste won't mind all of us going together." Ruby said as she approached the door.

Though, before she managed to reach for the knob, a loud voice was heard from the other side of the door.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I can't let myself stay with you any longer! I need to stay as far away from you as I can!"

"Are you actually retarded!? Where the hell is this coming from!?"

"I had _visions_ , Tielle! _Visions!_ Visions of _your_ blood on _my_ hands! You're going to _die_ because of _me!_ "

"Excuse me!?"

Curious but wary, Ruby opened the door to sneak a peek and found that Lilly was awake already but it seemed like she was being confronted by Tiella. Whether they didn't notice or didn't care, the two carried on with their argument.

"I'll just end up killing you if you stay close to me, okay, Tielle!? Why don't you just understand that these visions aren't just from nightmares!?"

Lilly was yelling in Tiella's face, a rare look of anger on her face.

Tiella grabbed her by the collar and raised her up just barely off the ground.

"I know you're not one to lie, Lilly, but that's some A-grade bullshit you're spouting right there."

Tiella's eyes were seething and her teeth were gritted tightly.

"You think you can kill me that easily!?"

"It's a _vision_ , Tielle, it's not gonna happen _now_ , it's gonna happen in the _future!_ When I'm _far_ stronger than you already!"

"You think you're the only one getting stronger!? Is that it!?"

"That's not what I-"

"Clench your teeth."

And not even a second later, Lilly was sent crashing out the window and into the courtyard of Beacon Academy.

Audible gasps were heard from both teams behind them and the students outside. Lilly rolled and stood with her arms raised defensively on her chin — her right hand was red and smoking from the fist that aimed to knock her out.

"I don't want to fight you, Tielle. Not like this." Lilly looked just over her hand, a serious glint in her eyes was seen.

Tiella jumped out of the room, stomping on the shards of glass scattered on the grass and pavement.

"You're afraid of killing me?" She took slow steps towards Lillianne whose guard was raised to full.

She realized that Tiella was in no mood to pull punches in the slightest.

"A little girl like you? Who's never won against me? Who only started learning how to fight 6 months ago?"

Lilly's expression was hard and expectant. She slowly circled around Tiella with her arms still raised defensively.

 _"This is bad, she's really angry right now and won't see reason."_

In an instant, Tiella was already in front of Lilly in the air. Tiella jumped and kicked high, aiming for the side of Lilly's head even knowing it was going to be well guarded. The kick sent Lilly flying, rolling, skidding, and finally, crashing into the side of the building where the infirmary was. A large crack appeared as if a wrecking ball just crashed into it.

"A fucking upstart like you think you're hot shit just 'cause you learn fast and can land a few hits in now!?"

All the air in Lilly's lungs escaped her from the unexpected strength of the blow. She'd seen the attack coming thanks to God Eyes but her body was unable to react. Before she could even begin gathering her bearings together, Lilly was pulled out of the rubble.

Tiella grabbed Lilly by the collar with her right hand and pulled her left arm back for a big windup. She gathered her Aura into her fist, illuminating the nearby area with a daunting bright red glow.

With teeth gritted and her fists clenched, she glared at Lilly. "Let's see you fucking try."

She pushed Lilly back against the wall, dazing the girl even more, and shot her glowing fist at her with as much speed and strength she could muster.

Her fist crashed like a meteorite, blowing a hole in the wall large enough for an average car to pass through. And even before the smoke had begun settling, she kicked her leg back and high up, stopping Lilly's attempt at a back attack.

"Predictable!"

Lilly was hit in the chest, sending her flying back with a roll until she stopped with a knee on the ground. As she gasped for air and looked ahead, she found that Tiella was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, her view of the world turned sideways as a powerful blow impacted her on the side of her head. Even with Passive Aura Enhancement, she could feel a dull, throbbing sensation where she was hit.

"That's how you do a sneak attack, you fucking amateur!"

Tiella paused with her right hand thrust out, knuckles smoking as a red light enveloped her fist. She hastily ran after Lilly, who crashed and left a small hole in the ground. She stood groggily and eyed Tiella carefully. She could see that Tiella was furious, but there was something else in her eyes that she failed to notice the first time.

Realizing what it was, she cursed herself internally as she prepared to stop Tiella. Her eyes glowed brightly as her Aura swirled violently around her. And in response, Tiella became aglow with the color of her own soul, however, there was a slight difference to it from before.

The world around Lillianne slowed to a near halt. She walked towards her friend as she caught her breath. She stood just in front of her and entered a low and wide stance. She pulled her right palm back for a palm strike that she hoped would knock the air out of Tiella and put her to sleep.

As Lillianne struck, she felt winded, as if just standing was already quite the heavy labor for her. Just as her palm struck Tiella in her solar plexus and was sent flying off her feet, she'd inadvertently released herself from the effects of The One Almighty.

The palm that crashed neared speed of the second cosmic velocity. Shockwaves from Lillianne's palm strike spread out, shattering glass and rustling tree branches while leaving deep cracks on the pavement beneath her feet. The loud sonic boom nearly broke her eardrums.

Tiella flew dozens of meters backward, crashing, tumbling, rolling, and skidding. She was nearly paralyzed from the devastating, supersonic body blow that crashed at her.

Lillianne paused to take deep and heavy breaths, wiping the sweat off her forehead with her palm and brushing her fringes back. She watched as Tiella held herself up with shaky arms while coughing and wheezing. Tiella spat blood and glared at Lilly from where she knelt.

"That... haaaaa... That all you... all you got...?" She taunted, practically gasping the words out.

Lilly shook her head as her chest rose and fell. "I don't want to do any more, Tielle… I don't want to hurt you more than I already have…"

Tiella's eyes went wide with rage as she clicked her tongue. "Patronizing me, are you!?"

"Tielle, please!" Lilly yelled with eyes shut in desperation. "I don't want to do this anymore! We're only hurting each other! I'm begging you, please listen!"

Tiella's Aura flared stronger, a dark red tinge surrounded her body. She stood while protectively covering her stomach with her forearm.

"I lived through hundreds of missions."

She limped onward, the darkness in her red Aura spreading slowly.

"I've taken hundreds — no, _thousands_ — of lives by my hands."

Her footfalls grew heavy. Her palms sweated as her fists tightened knuckle-white. Her revelation confused those that heard her, making them think whether she was talking about human lives or simply Grimm.

"I DANCED WITH THE _UNKILLABLE!_ "

Her domineering presence was nearly palpable to the small crowd that had gathered, attracted by the commotion caused by their fight.

"I FOUGHT THE _UNBREAKABLE!_

WITH JAWS THAT SWALLOW RIVERS AND CLAWS THAT TEAR THROUGH MOUNTAINS!

I FUCKING _FACED_ THAT!

WITHOUT _YOU!_

OR _ANYONE!_

AND _GUESS FUCKING WHAT_ , LILLIANNE!?"

She spread her arms wide open, a mad grin adorning her balefully glowing yellow eyes.

"I'M STILL _ALIVE!_ "

Lillianne watched in growing dread as she slowly realized what was happening.

 _"Tielle! No! You don't want this!"_

Tiella ripped her top off, revealing herself in only her sports bra. The muscles honed through years of hard work, scarred through hundreds of battles and healed through just as many.

"AND JUST BECAUSE YOU HAD A FEW FUCKING NIGHTMARES KILLING ME, YOU THINK IT'S GONNA HAPPEN!?

YOU'RE JUST ONE BITCH IN A LONG LINE OF SONS OF BITCHES THAT I'VE FOUGHT IN MY LIFE!

YOU'RE NO ONE SPECIAL, LILLIANNE!

LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE TRIED TO KILL ME!

AND LOOK AT ME!

 _LOOK AT ME!_

THEY ALL FUCKING FAILED!

AND ALL OF THEM ARE FUCKING DEAD BECAUSE OF IT!

SO DON'T THINK YOU'RE WORTH SHIT JUST 'CAUSE YOU'RE A LITTLE TALENTED AT EVERYTHING, _LILLIANNE!_ " Spitting out her name mockingly.

"THE _HELL_ I'VE EXPERIENCED WILL SWALLOW YOU _WHOLE!_ "

Lilly felt her knees buckling and noticed the nearby crowd of gathered students and staff members falling to the ground like flies one after another.

 _"She's Hollowing! She's unknowingly using Hollowing! And because of the side effect, she has no control over her emotions! I have to stop her! Or it'll be just like the first time!"_

Her eyes glowed brightly once more in an attempt to enter the realm of Gods — The One Almighty.

A skill gained that is unique to Lillianne, achieved through constant use of her Essentia. The ultimate move that lets her become just as fast as her eyes could see for _one second._

And in that one second, she has _all_ the time in the world.

Her eyes strained immensely as if constantly pricked by needles on all angles including the inside. Her head was throbbing painfully as if her brain was being squeezed and beaten by hammers and grinders. It was enough to knock her out should she lose focus.

 _"I've…"_ She coughed up blood in her hand as it also dripped from her eyes and nose. _"I've never used… I've never used this twice in a row before. I feel like I'll die if I go through with it."_

Her knees kissed the ground as she supported herself with her hands. The glow in her eyes flickered, wavering in their strength until their shine almost disappeared. She turned her eyes to the side, noticing Bardel holding an arm in front of Glynda. It was likely that he was stopping her from coming over.

She chuckled dryly. _"Good Ol' Bardy. He understands that this is between me and her."_

Bardel met her eyes and he gave her a resolute nod. She, too, nodded, feeling her conviction strengthened through the support of her dear friend. She stood with a hand on her knee, willing her Essentia to life once again until her eyes glowed brightly.

The world slowed, halting to minuscule movements barely noticeable by the eyes that weren't _hers_.

Signs of fatigue were apparent in everyone's eyes, even Bardel who was known for his wealth of stamina and endurance. No one is safe from Tiella's Hollowing. Not even the invincible monster whom she fought all those months ago.

 _"One of Hollowing's side effects is emotional instability that gets worse the longer it's used. And since its effect grows stronger in direct relation to Tielle's feelings of scorn, there's a very high chance of it only getting worse faster than it normally should."_

So, with a resolute heart, Lillianne ran.

Towards her first friend.

Towards her whose eyes showed great loneliness and suffering.

Towards the one person she loved the most.

More than her parents.

More than herself.

To the person she was willing to die for.

 _"If I can save you, then I will. Whatever it takes."_

As she approached Tiella, Hollowing grew stronger in magnitudes — to the point that just taking one step closer was akin to climbing a mountain higher than the last.

 _"Just... 5 more steps..."_

She struggled to run, her feet practically dragging behind her for every step. The closer she got, the weaker she became. The halted world around her was slowly but surely moving a tiny bit more noticeable than it should in The One Almighty.

 _"3..."_

Lilly held a hand to her mouth as she coughed up more blood, the combined side effect of a consecutive use of The One Almighty paired with Hollowing was proving to be more than she could take, even for someone like her.

 _"2...!"_

She attempted to raise her right leg for another step, however, she no longer could. Her mind was shutting down and her eyes were beginning to blackout. She reached her hand out at Tiella's cheek with an effort that felt equal to moving a mountain. Her eyes widened from pain as another bout of blood was coughed up. She nearly puked it all out as she fell on Tiella.

 _"I'm sorry, Tielle... you were hurting so much already and I still said all that."_

Her body fell forward limply, taken away from the halted world and brought back to realtime.

Tiella was surprised when Lillianne disappeared in front of her and suddenly appeared on top of her while holding her cheek and vomiting blood on her. She pushed the girl off and threw a punch but stopped midway when she saw the girl's blood-soaked face as she fell backward. Wide-eyed and panicking, she grabbed Lilly by the hand and pulled her back in her arms. She just stared at the girl whose blood dripped down her eyes, mouth, ears, and nose. She even worried that the girl might drown in her own blood if it kept up.

She just continued staring blankly at the girl for an unknown amount of time until someone placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see a tired-looking Bardel. In less than a moment, she was sent flying backward by a punch to her cheek — the throbbing pain knocking some sense back into her.

"Snap the fuck out of it!"

She took deep and heavy breaths as panic ensued, engraving the image of an unconscious, blood-soaked Lilly in her mind.

"Pull yourself together!"

"S-..." She slowly shook her head in fear and disbelief. "Somebody get me an ambulance!" She scrambled to get up, rushing, crawling towards Lilly who was cradled in Bardel's arms. "SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

Bardel watched as Tiella took Lilly out of his arms and into hers, gently cradling her while wiping the blood off her face.

"I-... I didn't want this-... I didn't-... t-this isn't what I want! I—! This isn't what I want! Lilly! Lilly! Please, wake up! Lilly!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, _no—!_

Not again!

 _NOT AGAIN—!_ "

An ear-piercing screech disrupted her from her thoughts.

She, Bardel, and all those who were still conscious looked up. What they feared had arrived.

Feathers darker than any unlit night, bone armor with a sickly white pallet, ominous yellow eyes that pierced through their souls.

At around 600 meters above Beacon Academy flew two Nevermores and one Giant Nevermore.

On the far left side of Beacon Academy, beyond and below the cliffs, roars and bellows of myriad creatures were heard.

"Students, this is a Class A emergency! Prepare for battle! A horde of Grimm is approaching and we _must_ defend Beacon at all costs!"

Glynda heaved when she stood beside Bardel, appearing concerned and anxious over everything that had just happened. Tiella eyed the Nevermores blankly before casting her gaze at the direction of the unseen horde of Grimm crowding near Beacon's cliff. She stood without moving her gaze away, then she gave Glynda and Bardel a blank look. She walked towards Bardel and had him take Lilly out of her arms.

"Hold her for me, will you? I have something to take care of."

"Are you retarded?"

Bardel took Lilly just as she asked but he immediately passed her over to a very confused Glynda. Struggling to hold her up, she simply used her Semblance to levitate her instead.

"I'm not gonna pass up that kinda fight."

Tiella furrowed her brows while raising one as she looked at Bardel incredulously. "What the fuck are you on about? Are _you_ retarded!? I'm gonna use my shitty Skill to attract the Grimm and lure them away!"

"And then what? Fucking die a hero's death? Is that it? I'm not gonna sit on my ass looking pretty while you're getting yourself killed!"

"This isn't the time for this you fucking dumbass!" Tiella shoved Bardel away. "You're just gonna end up as Grimm food if you come with me!"

Bardel shoved back, talking back with just as much bite. "And Lilly's gonna fucking cry her heart out if she hears you turned into Grimm food yourself, you dumb bitch!"

"I'm not gonna be Grimm food, dumbass! Who the hell do you think I am!?" She said, pressing a finger over Bardel's chest.

"I'm better at dealing with crowds than you!" He backhanded Tiella's hand away.

"Yeah, fucking right!"

"Of course I'm fucking right! I'm stronger than you!"

"Well let's fucking see you try it then!" Tiella stormed off, briskly walking towards the edge of Beacon Academy.

"Let's go, bitch!" Bardel quickly followed.

"Asshole!"

"Dyke!"

"Where the hell do you stupid kids think you're going!? And don't just leave me here with Lilly!"

Tiella flinched from the voice. She didn't dare turn back in fear of angering Glynda even more than she already had. Also, she's still ashamed of herself for what she did to her.

She elbowed Bardel on the arm lightly then whispered in his ear.

"Fuck no." Bardel quickly responded. "What? I'm not gonna be your messen—… You're 6 goddamn feet apart, what the fuck's your problem?"

Tiella whispered harshly with clenched teeth while tilting her head towards Glynda. Bardel looked at the professor and grinned.

"Look, she's coming over."

"What are you whispering about? We're in an emergency!"

A screech resounded as if to prove her point.

"See!?"

Tiella hid her face away and turned her back to her while looking down.

"Gonna deal with the Grimm, y' know, stuff."

"Just you two."

"It was supposed to be just me 'cause this is all my fault but he's a stubborn fuck so…"

"Without your weapons."

"You know I'm hot barehanded. Look, just- just let me deal with it, alright? It's my fault."

"Even if it was," Glynda quickly retorted, causing Tiella to flinch. "that doesn't mean we'll let you take care of it on your own."

Glynda looked around, taking in the situation with a keen eye and the first thing she noticed was the fact that none of the Grimm have made their move.

 _"They're just standing by, circling… this is far too different from the first time Tiella arrived."_

She shook her head. _"Whatever it is, it's buying us time — and time is just what we need."_

"Prepare for battle, get your weapons. For some reason, the Grimm aren't making a move on us yet. Take this time to get ready."

Tiella and Bardel shared looks before glancing at the giant black birds.

"Fine." Tiella immediately turned around and ran for her room.

Bardel, on the other hand, just shrugged and stretched his legs by doing a few squats on each leg. Glynda wondered what he was trying to achieve with that but as soon as Bardel finished his light warm-ups, he took a low stance with legs far apart and knees bent.

Suddenly, he ran towards a building and leapt high, landing on a rooftop. He used it as a stepping stone to leap even higher with enough force to shake the building he stepped on.

The quake surprised everyone in their alerted states, assuming it had been an attack by the Grimm. When they looked up, however, they saw Bardel's figure rocketing up into one of the Nevermores.

"Let's go, you stupid fucking birds!"

He clotheslined a Nevermore by its neck, pulling it up with him for a few meters more.

"Caw, caw, motherfucker! WOOOO HOOOOOOOO!"

He tightened his hold on its neck until it snapped under the pressure, causing him to fall as the Grimm bird disintegrated into nothingness.

"Ah, shit." He lightly commented during his freefall.

Luckily for him, he was swallowed by the Giant Nevermore. Onlookers below, however, gasped in fear and started shooting at the bird with all they had.

The Nevermore dodged and weaved through each projectile, surprising them that such a huge creature could be so swift and nimble. And those that it couldn't, it simply defended from by flapping its mighty wings, deflecting them all back to the ground along with shots of its razor-sharp feathers.

The students scattered and scrambled to avoid the feathers. It screeched, reveling in its small victory over the puny humans who dared attack it.

Until an arm burst through its stomach, that is.

Bardel tore himself out with a mighty roar, the mad grin sending shivers down the spines of those who saw him. He grabbed onto its feathers and hung onto them. He swung his legs back and forth until he'd gained enough momentum to kick deep into the stomach of the Giant Nevermore.

"Fuck you!"

The kick blasted a large hole through its back killing it in an instant, causing him to freefall once more.

"HA! DID YOU THINK A BIRD AS _SMALL_ AS YOU COULD EAT SOMEONE AS _BIG_ AS ME!?"

While falling, he suddenly felt an odd floor beneath his feet despite still being a couple of hundred meters in the air. He looked down and saw a large purple glyph as his platform.

"Finish the other off!"

He looked further below and found Glynda yelling at him. He grinned, smashing his fists together, producing shockwaves that rippled through the air around him.

"No need to tell me twice!"

He ran to the edge of the glyph and leapt once more, aiming for the last of the three Nevermores. The Grimm bird saw him coming, so it dodged and flapped its wings to throw him further off. However, another glyph became his platform before he could even fall.

His grin was wide and large, elated at the fact that he could fight in the air as he wished with Glynda's help.

He ran from glyph to glyph, racing through the air to reach the Nevermore by its talon. Once he'd clutched tightly, he climbed up to its neck and choked it as he did to the first one.

The Nevermore thrashed in the air, spinning and flapping its wings wildly until its neck was snapped in two.

"WEAK!"

With the last of the Nevermores dealt with, he jumped down to the ground, his landing caused large webbed cracks beneath his feet.

"Good work." Glynda nodded at Bardel.

"Bunch'a weaklings if you ask me." He shrugged with a scornful grin.

"I'm sure they are."

"I'mma take care of the rest." He said while walking to the cliff. "I'm not gonna wait for Tiella."

"Don't bother, I'm here already."

They turned and saw Tiella in full combat gear — a new shirt, kevlar vest, knives, grenades, pistols, and gauntlet.

"Then let's go," Glynda said as she led the way.

"What about Lilly?"

Tiella asked and with Glynda's back turned to her, she didn't see the slight irk in her expression that was quickly replaced by her professional mask.

"I laid her back on the infirmary and called Professor Peach to tend to her."

"And what about Beacon? Who's gonna lead the students?"

"Professors Oobleck and Port are more than capable of doing just that while protecting them as well. Professor Ozpin is here to keep an eye on everything and move in case things head for the worst."

"You sure you need to come? We can take care of it."

"You underestimate the Grimm too much. You're lucky the ones you've faced so far have only been the common, easy to deal with Grimm. Personally, I can take care of this much by myself."

Tiella looked at Glynda in anticipation, eager to see her in action once again. Glynda turned to give her a sharp look while adjusting her glasses.

"Let me show you why I'm the Professor of Combat."

Glynda brandished her riding crop with a swish as she neared the cliff — body and eyes glowed a purple hue that emanated pure strength and control. The air around them swirled violently, forming six vortices in the air above her until becoming six glowing, raging balls of purple wind each the size of the average fist. She swung her riding crop forward, a command that moved the orbs of pure wind and Aura at the base of the cliff where thousands upon thousands of Grimm were attempting to climb it.

Her eyes hardened as she willed the orbs far apart from each other. Then, with a flick of her wrist, the orbs imploded, then exploded violently. Each orb engulfed an area no smaller than a hundred meters in diameter. The winds that raged were akin to category 5 hurricanes, destroying and reshaping the landscape in its wake as hundreds of Grimm were torn to shreds in an instant.

The howl of the winds that raged can be heard even from the city across the lake. It was truly a show of strength refined by the ultimate control of one's will. She was, after all, the strongest huntress in the continent barring Ozpin.

Tiella and Bardel watched beside her in awed grins. Bardel's body was rippling with barely contained energy that neared his Critical mode. Tiella, on the other hand, while floored by the magnificent use of Telekinesis, was just really happy she hadn't pissed Glynda enough that she would aim that kind of power at her.

Tiella looked at Glynda from the side. _"She's not even breaking a sweat."_

All of a sudden, Glynda brandished her riding crop once more, collecting the raging winds into the sky above the remaining Grimm into one huge plasma ball. The sheer heat and electricity radiating off of it were enough to raise the temperature of its vicinity to burn the highest reaching branches and leaves of trees at the base of the cliff.

Tiella smiled wryly at the sight while scratching her cheek. "Are you sure that's not overkill?"

"I'm angry." Glynda curtly replied through grit teeth.

Tiella's eyes widened as she looked away, the wry smile she was wearing disappearing. "Oh. Uh... sorry."

Glynda brought her riding crop down, letting the giant plasma ball land and detonate, taking out hundreds more before leaving a huge crater with charred soil and burnt trees. She then cast her gaze below and spoke softly.

"I should be the one apologizing."

Dumbfounded, she looked at Glynda with furrowed brows and pursed lips.

"B-But—"

"Stop," Glynda said, raising a hand in front of Tiella. "I... I want to apologize to you... so... can we talk later? Can you come home? Please? I... I miss you."

Bardel watched as the two forgot about the rest of the world around them. Unable to bear being the third wheel, he shook his head in exasperation and jumped down the cliff, raring to go and deal with the rest of the Grimm — there were still thousands left after all.

"S-So... you don't hate me?"

"Hate you?" Glynda tilted her head in confusion. "Why would I hate you?"

"Well, I—"

And a loud blast resounded, taking them away from their little talk. They both looked towards the direction of the blast and the first thing they saw was Bardel dragging an Ursa Major by its neck as he ran through everything in front of him while cackling maniacally.

"Let's talk later."

"Fine."

Tiella drew her Badabing pair and cocked them. She concentrated Aura into her hands, then to her desert eagles. Her guns crackled with power, enhancing it as best as she could with her level of Aura control. Doing nothing but Aura practice for the past week and a half allowed her a level of control comparable to that of a Beacon freshman already — at least, a freshman who specializes in Aura control.

The act wasn't lost on Glynda, surprised that she'd come a long way since the last time she saw her practicing with her Aura. Tiella aimed and pulled the trigger on each gun once and the recoil was strong enough for her to get pushed back a step. The bullets blasted out, red light exploding along with it. The bullets hit their marks and each one tore through the thick alabaster bone armor of an Alpha Beowulf like paper, therefore tearing through the rest behind it until the bullets hit the ground below.

Tiella shrugged amusedly as she eyed her guns. "My Desert Eagles can fire high-penetration bullets now, that's neat." She concentrated Aura into her guns again before jumping down herself. "I'll kill more if I level with them here!"

 _"She doesn't hate me!"_ Tiella giggled as she landed on top of a Beowolf, crushing its head with her boots' steel heels.

Atop the cliff, Glynda curiously eyed Tiella. She watched as Tiella performed the same Aura enhancement on her guns and bullets, convinced that what she did was absolutely no fluke.

 _"Since when did she learn to do such a thing? Last time I was teaching her, she was taking a long time just to coat her weapons in her Aura. She isn't just extending her Aura to passively enhance them, she's consciously enhancing her weapons to the brim. And now, she can even pull off burst charges consecutively. It's powerful, yes, but it's also a good way to drain yourself of your Aura if done haphazardly like she is doing now. If she doesn't stop, she'll be drained in a matter of minutes."_

"I need to teach her to moderate her Aura well. Perhaps we're well on our way to discovering her Semblance too."

Glynda glanced behind her, seeing most of her students armed and ready. She noticed most of them looking at the sky, and so curiously, she looked up as well. What greeted her was a sky partially blotted out by something ink-like, inching closer and closer from the horizon. The sight puzzled her for a second until the damning realization that the ink that was spilled in the horizon was actually a new wave of flying Grimm.

Her eyes widened as she watched the ink-like blackness nearly take up the sky and blot out the sun. Horror showed on her face but she willed herself to stand strong in the face of a massive horde. She believed that, just like the Nevermores from before, they would simply fly above Beacon's airspace without attacking unless provoked. She didn't know why the Grimm were acting like so but it's a blessing she's quite willing to be kept in the dark about until further notice.

She immediately jumped down, landing beside Tiella. The redhead had been focused on the surrounding Grimm that she almost pulled the trigger on Glynda but she managed to stop after pointing it at her forehead.

"Sorry, almost blew your head off." Tiella smiled wryly as she aimed behind Glynda and shot a rolling Boarbatusk before it got close.

Glynda whipped her riding crop, sending a powerful telekinetic blast that pushed all surrounding Grimm away from them, giving them a little bit of space for a short moment.

"You're going to need something more powerful than an improvised Aura enhanced bullet to go through my Aura," She said while adjusting her glasses and looking around.

Tiella shrugged and smiled, unwilling to argue the fact. "So what made you come down here? I thought you could take care of everything from up there?"

"I can but I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" She asked as she kept shooting at her surroundings, not even bothering to aim as she was absolutely sure that she was bound to hit something with how densely packed with Grimm the forest was.

"You should moderate your Aura usage. If you keep firing like that, you're going to run out in minutes."

"Yeah?" Tiella asked with furrowed brows. "I can't really take out lots unless I do it this way though?"

"Which is why you should leave this area to me. Go back up and help the students in any way you can."

"What!? But I attracted them here!"

"And you will be more effective up there than down here."

Tiella and Glynda had a glaring contest for a moment. She shot out at a Beowolf that was lunging at Glynda from behind with much less Aura input than before, so the bullet didn't go through to kill the rest behind it. She clicked her tongue as Glynda gathered her Aura around her, bringing her hands close together as she charged herself with power. She then forcefully spread open her arms, summoning earth spikes that encircled them from all sides and killing all nearby Grimm.

Seeing how well Glynda wiped out hundreds of Grimm, she sighed and nodded her head begrudgingly. "Okay... I'm sorry."

"Good." Glynda nodded. "I'll send you up. Work with the professors to deal with the incoming horde from above. I don't know how many there are exactly but there are thousands of flying Grimm coming this way."

Tiella's eyes widened at the news and immediately she looked up to see the sky half-covered in black. "Shit." She cursed as she bit her lip. "God, I'm so sorry... I- I shouldn't be here. I should leave as soon as this is over. I'll- I'll live in the fore—"

"Stop it." Glynda talked over her in a loud voice. She twirled her riding crop above them, summoning a hurricane around them that she pushed outward to keep the Grimm from coming closer. "Don't even think about leaving me. I still need to apologize to you and I don't want everything to end like this."

"But look at what I did!" Tiella spread her arms out. "I _called_ all of this!" She emphasized by banging her chest with her hands. "All of _that!_ " She pointed out. "Wanna know why!? Because I was getting needlessly emotional! I couldn't control my fucking curse again! It's just like before and now everyone's gonna fucking hate me for it! Worse! People will get hurt because of me! _So why bother fucking keeping me here—!?_ "

Her outburst was cut short as she was struck across the cheek. A stinging pain spread on her right cheek as she looked back at Glynda in shame and wide-eyed surprise.

"Because we're here for you! Why do you keep forgetting that!?"

" _Because I'm fucking dangerous!_ "

" _So am I!_ " Glynda's outburst was followed by razor-sharp winds that tore through the Grimm horde around them, annihilating all that was near the wall of wind she made for them. "Don't you see how strong I am!? Don't you see how easily I am dealing with this horde!? I can protect you! I _will_ protect you! I _want_ to protect you!"

"But for how long?!" Tiella yelled over Glynda. "How long, huh!? And how much can you handle!? What if you're Aura runs out!? What if this happens again but you're not there with me!? What if you end up getting hurt because of me!? I can't fucking live with that!"

"Then you just need to stay with me! Live with me! Live here with me! Stay! Like you always have! I can protect you! I can keep you safe!"

"I can't keep relying on you!"

"Yes, you can!"

"No, I can't!"

"Yes," Glynda gritted her teeth in reply, her patience wearing thin, "you can!"

"I'm not gonna have this back and forth with you in the middle of a god damn Grimm apocalypse!"

"So just agree with me and stay!" She nearly cried out.

"But I'm not from here!"

Glynda couldn't immediately say anything back as she looked into Tiella's morose golds. Strong winds howled around them, nearly drowning out the roaring tides of Grimm.

"We never even should have met at all in the first place..." Tiella said weakly as she cast her eyes to the ground and hung her head.

Glynda wrapped her arms around Tiella's shoulders to pull her close. She buried her face in the crook of Tiella's neck and pressed herself against her.

"Stop thinking about what-ifs." She spoke softly in Tiella's ear. "Don't ignore reality — our reality. And the reality is that you're here, with me, in my arms."

Tiella didn't reciprocate the embrace, keeping her hands to her sides as she looked up teary-eyed. "I just can't live with the fact that I'm such a hazard in this world too."

"You aren't."

"My mom died."

"..."

"Then my father did too."

"..."

"And then my sister went missing."

"..."

"I ended up living with my alcoholic, pedophile of an uncle and that ended with him being my first ever kill."

"..!"

"I left my old mercenary team incapacitated for days because I got angry."

"..."

"I killed an entire forest in my old world and all that resulted was tiring some _unkillable fuck_ out to the point that he can't move and all I could do with that was drop him down a fucking hole."

"..."

"In a new fucking world, _I'm a fucking Grimm magnet._ "

"..."

"Now... Now you hate me."

"I don't!"

"Just last night, you left as soon as you arrived because I fucked up and I don't even know what I did wrong."

"Y-You did nothing wrong!" Glynda held Tiella by the shoulders as she pulled away from the hug to look her in the eyes. "It was all me! It was all my fault, you were doing nothing wrong at all!"

Tiella looked to the side and let out a humorless laugh, clearly not believing Glynda's words. "And then as soon as Lilly woke up, she told me she doesn't want to be with me anymore, spouting some bullshit about visions of her killing me."

"What...?"

"Sooner or later, Bardy's gonna leave too."

"..."

"I don't belong anywhere, old or new world... I can't take it anymore."

"..."

Tears spilled at the edge of Tiella's eyes. Pain etched across her face in the form of furrowed brows and a bitten lip.

"I should have never been born."

Glynda embraced Tiella tighter in response, the weight of her words squeezed at her heart as if it would burst. "Don't speak like that! Don't deny your existence! Especially not to me!"

"Prove me wrong then." She sniffled, smiling self-deprecatingly. "What good am I other than a shitty gun for hire?"

Glynda touched Tiella's cheek and pushed their cheeks together. "You make me happy."

"Yeah, right."

"You annoy me, true, but even more so, you make me happy."

"..."

"You make me feel wanted."

"..."

"When I walked out on you last night, I felt so much regret and guilt. I wanted to come back and apologize when I heard you crying. I wanted so much to hold you and comfort you."

"You heard that too, huh? That's one more time you've seen me crying."

"I—"

Glynda was about to continue when she realized that the Grimm were moving closer now that tornado she summoned around themselves had dissipated. Clearly, they were attracted to the strong negative emotions Tiella was feeling. She was about to deal with them again but Tiella pushed her away, causing her to fall to the ground sitting.

"What are you—"

She looked up and saw Tiella's back turned to her.

"I'll take care of them."

And that was the last thing she said before running off towards the horde of Grimm.

"Tiella?!"

She couldn't even see her face before she went off.

She panicked, picking herself up off the ground in a hurry. She quickly split the Grimm horde apart and made way between them to look for Tiella.

"Tiella!"

She called as loud as she could but her voice was simply drowned out by the bellowing of the Grimm around her. She pushed herself using her Telekinesis, dashing past the Grimm before they even realized she'd moved.

"Tiella!"

She looked left and right, front and back, but there was no sign of the girl — not a sliver of her red hair nor a glimmer of her white shirt. She pushed forward, taking out as many Grimm as she could to clear the area and hopefully see any signs of the girl. She cut down trees to see more but there were simply no signs of her.

"Tiella, please!" She cried out, her voice nearly breaking.

She tore the ground beneath her, taking a chunk off for her to step on and levitate high above the forest. She looked down, her eyes raced everywhere and nowhere for any telltale signs of Tiella's signature red hair. She saw the swarm of flying Grimm arriving close and clenched her teeth in anger.

"If only you hadn't existed... If only you weren't attracted to negativity!"

She gathered air into the tip of her riding crop, forming another massive plasma ball that she superheated through high-speed rotation with the help of her glyphs and shot it out like a gigantic purple railgun that wiped out a good chunk of the swarming Grimm.

"Out of my way!"

With the skies a little bit clearer, she looked down at the forest again. Her panicking had gone worse with her breathing heavily and her heart thumping loudly in her chest.

Suddenly, she felt fatigued, nearly falling off the platform she'd made for herself. She knelt down and held onto her platform, realizing that Tiella was using Hollowing to lure the Grimm away from Beacon. She looked back and it was just as she suspected — the Grimm had turned tail and ran in the opposite direction of Beacon, to where Tiella likely was.

She egged herself to move, forcing her platform forward to follow the Grimm in hopes of them leading her to Tiella but the farther she moved, the more fatigued she felt. It was clear to her that Tiella was using her Essentia in its maximum output if she had no signs of the girl but still felt the effects of her Skill.

Unable to keep herself afloat for longer, she descended slowly back to the ground. She fell to the earth with a thud, gasping in and out to catch her breath. Moments later, Bardel approached behind her.

"Where's Tiella?"

She looked behind her with tears falling down her wrath-contorted face.

She couldn't answer.

This was Tiella's dear friend and she drove her away from him.

And so, she was wrath with herself.

She couldn't even _think_ of forgiving herself for being unable to keep Tiella from going.

It was all so abrupt.

She was pushed down and was left alone.

Even now, she couldn't fully believe that Tiella ran off.

She hoped that Tiella would come back, looking no worse for wear, smugly grinning at her while pointing finger guns at her.

Bardel grabbed Glynda by her collars, raising her off the ground and snarled with a voice that was terrifyingly cold, far unlike the heated voice she usually heard from him whenever he was excited.

"Where's. Tiella."

Glynda bit her lip and looked away, unable to meet Bardel in the eyes. Her lips quivered and her eyes shut close as her tears spilled unbiddenly.

He let go, dropping her unceremoniously to the ground. He walked past her but paused after a few steps away.

"I should've never left her alone with you."

His words stung, like drills that bore holes at her heart. She couldn't say anything in response as she felt that it was only right of him to blame her. She watched as Bardel leapt away, likely in search of Tiella.

There, she sat, on the cold hard ground that seeped away at her warmth. Her teary eyes looked blankly ahead, to where she last saw Celestiella V. Margory and her heart grew heavier for it.

 _"'I'm back!'_

 _'Smells good, what's cooking?'_

 _'You're the best!'_

 _'God, I love you'_

 _'Goodnight, Glynda'_

 _'Hey, Glynda!'_

 _'Glynda!'_

 _'Hehe...'_

 _'I love you'."_

"I never even got to properly apologize to her."

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Sorry about the long wait! This was a doozy of a chapter to write. It's really becoming "Lost Star" again like the first two chapters, huh? For the longest time, it's been a slice of life story, which isn't bad, in my opinion, but there are ultimately other things that happen in RWBY that happens outside of Beacon and that's something I'll have to think about more at this point._

 _Now, to answer some of you guys._

 _There's a difference between taking your criticism and feedback to heart and learning from it, and simply doing as told. I'll tell all of you now, mythologies and religion have always been interesting topics for me. Sorry to hear that the whole "Gods and reincarnation" stuff is boring, but I **am** trying my best to make it so that it'll be interesting to read._

 _Also, requests for pairings isn't something I'm quite willing to do. For one thing, if I do one request, I'll have to do future requests, too, and that's not something I'm willing to work with. If I'm interested in something, then I will do it with or without any requests whatsoever though I will take into account whether it fits the story or not._

 _Secondly, if I do follow up on a pairing request and do a poor job of it, it's just gonna suck ass for both parties, ya know?_

 _On another note, I totally understand why you think Salem is hot. She's fine as hell._

 _Now then! Please keep this in mind!_

 _I will **not** abandon this fic! I will finish this even if it takes me 5 or 10 years!_

 _If I ever stop uploading, assume the worst because that'll be the only reason I'll ever stop._

 _Thanks again for reading a new chapter of Lost Star, I hope you enjoyed it! I'll see you guys next time._


	32. Chapter 32: Advent

AN: _Hello again!_

 _In this chapter, I used a few breakdancing jargons to describe some action scenes to keep them from being too wordy and possibly confusing. Chances are, these breakdancing moves are something you've already seen but don't know the name of, so if you're curious, a quick google or youtube search may help._

 _Sorry about the inconvenience! If you're fine with me describing these moves as such, I will keep using BBoy jargon in the future, if not, do let me know — I'll find a way to describe them without being too wordy._

 _Thanks again!_

 _Edit: I just noticed the inconsistency in numbers regarding the number of students participating in the mission, so this quick edit is here to fix that. Sorry about that! I'm so bad at math._

* * *

On the outskirts of the City of Vale...

...the howls and bellows of monsters and aberrations — they who fuel nightmares — echoed ominously.

"Mommy? I'm scared..."

"We'll be okay, dear. The guards will protect us from the Grimm."

Anxious of what's to come.

Fearful of what called forth the creatures of darkness.

Dreadful for their lives.

Outlier villages and even the districts at the edge of the city nearest to the Emerald Forest feared the telltale signs of the oncoming darkness.

The blackened, blotted, muddled horizon could be seen from deep within the city itself.

And the effect it had on the surrounding darkness was _oh, so enticingly sweet_ — _saccharinely_ so.

But even so...

Even when the surrounding human settlements smelled so delectably sweet, they cared not. Not when there was something _far_ more enticing just running in front of them.

A human.

And that human ran. It ran from tree to tree, jumping from branch to branch, hiding from bush to bush. But it didn't matter, all humans would eventually tire. Even this one.

Still, this particular human smelled different. It was human, yes, but... but there was something else. Perhaps that's why the creatures of darkness found it so irresistible. Its scent was magnitudes more than even the most frightened woman, greater than the most hateful man, and stronger than the most hopeless faun.

And so, like a carrot dangling in front of a famished horse, the creatures of Grimm chased after their prey — their _prize_ — with zeal unlike ever before.

Some came from nearby villages. Some came from another city entirely. Some even trekked distances they never would have bothered to cover. After all, with humans scattered on the surface of the planet, taking up nearly everywhere, why should Grimm bother traveling great distances just to eat them, right?

But this one's scent was just saccharine.

So _addictive_.

So _irresistible_.

So _delectable_.

So...

So _delicious_.

A horse-like Grimm galloped onwards, tailing their prey as fast as it could. Despite its speed, it could not capture the running human. It just kept dodging and running and skipping and hopping and rolling and sliding!

And these damn trees! Always blocking the way!

Even the monkey-like Grimm could not catch the human!

The wolves drew closer in large packs, the birds flew above and waited for their chance, the boars and bears trampled over everything in their path, the snakes crawled and coiled.

They were so close, yet so far.

Always a claw away.

Always a fang away.

Always a bite away.

A loud crash echoed followed by the appearance of black smoke.

Suddenly, the human fought back.

The lunging alpha wolf that aimed to sever the human's head from its body with a bite had its head blown away by a strike from the human's fist. Then, the human dared to use the other wolves the lunged as weapons by catching and throwing one to the other!

This human dared to hunt back when it should've been prey! It will pay with its life!

The Grimm will savor every last bit of the puny human's delicious body until not even a drop of blood is left on the soil!

* * *

"Ozpin, we _need_ to save her."

"Indeed, we do." He nodded. "But doing so is easier said than done."

"I didn't say it was going to be easy! I'm saying we need to do something now! _As soon as possible!_ "

"And hurry we must, but it is just as equally important that we keep our cool. The bigger and heavier the situation, the easier it is to make mistakes. Which is why the more we must hurry, the more important it is that we be careful. Haste makes waste, after all."

Ozpin was having an emergency meeting with his professors atop the newly refurbished Grand Clocktower. Though, while the furniture was new, it certainly wasn't anything particularly different. The chairs, sofas, tables, and desks that were all damaged that day nearly two weeks ago were replaced, yes, but they were all of the same make and model.

The only thing truly new about the room was that there were new chairs and sofas to accommodate a few more people.

With that, each professor took their seats as they all tried to assess the situation over a few cups of tea and coffee. All except Glynda. She hadn't the mind to serve herself a cup of tea and when Peach made one for her, she had yet to touch it since she last glanced at it.

She was standing by the window, glaring at the black mass slowing disappearing into the horizon in the Emerald Forest. Her eyes were sharp and hardened, her brows furrowed, her arms were crossed in front of her, and her grip on her riding crop turned her knuckle white.

"What drew that horde here in the first place?" Peach asked as she spun the tea in her cup idly.

"Do you remember our talk a few weeks back regarding the truth about our mercenary friends?" Oobleck asked back.

"You mean this was because of the theorized side effect of Tiella's Essentia?"

In their uncertainty, they looked towards the two people who could confirm their suspicions. Glynda scowled as she glanced at her colleagues while her grip tightened even more. Ozpin was stoically drinking his coffee while sending his gaze towards Glynda. She adjusted her glasses and sighed through her nose — her irritation at themselves for doing nothing but having the meeting whittled at her patience.

"Yes, I can confirm that her Essentia is what called the horde."

She nearly clicked her tongue when she saw the other professors' understandably negative and pensive reactions to the fact. She looked out the window through the corner of her eyes and hoped to all the gods of Remnant that Tiella was okay.

"What about Mr. Armas? I understand that Ms. Vernillion is indisposed due to her fight with Tiella but where is Mr. Armas currently?" Oobleck asked with a hand to his chin.

"He went chasing after Tiella," Glynda replied with a resigned sigh.

"Will he be fine?"

"I don't know." She looked away in contemplation. "He is strong, we know that already thanks to your footage, but even he was affected by Tiella's Essentia. I felt like I just spent half a day doing strenuous activities without Aura when it hadn't even been 3 minutes since I arrived at the area, and that was still a considerably safe distance away from their battle — Mr. Armas was holding me back as well."

 _"His grip on my arm nearly made a dent in my Aura. Just how much can these three grow with their Auras unlocked? I simply can't fathom their potential."_

Glynda shook her head lightly, dispelling her thoughts in favor of new ones.

 _"I shouldn't be here. I should be out there, with him, looking for Tiella — saving Tiella."_

She eyed Ozpin critically as she impatiently waited for their next course of action.

 _"What are we doing, Ozpin!?"_

"Don't worry, Glynda," Port said from across her. "They'll be fine. They're both strong-willed children. Their tenacity will see them through, so believe in them."

"To protect all of us she's _sacrificing her life_. She's using the _one thing_ she _**hated**_ _**so much**_ that she told me she'd rather _die_ than rely on it."

She glared at Port and spoke through gritted teeth, marginally suppressing her voice from coming out louder than she'd like.

"I was teaching her how to suppress her Aura, she was failing and accidentally used it on me, I felt weak but it was mild compared to what happened today. I told her that it takes time and that we should practice her Essentia too so it wouldn't run rampant like it did just now, we had a screaming match and she told me she could just master Aura and never rely on it again because she'd rather be _dead_ than use it."

She shut her eyes, bit her lip, and pinched the bridge of her nose. She was quite close to tearing up in frustration from their inaction.

"This is exactly what I was trying to prevent when I asked her to practice her Essentia all those nights ago! If only I found a suitable time and place for it, then maybe this wouldn't need to happen! If only I hadn't pushed her so far, then she wouldn't need to run off!"

Oobleck, Peach, and especially, Port didn't know how to respond. Her outburst was something her peers had never seen before. They simply stayed silent, believing that nothing they say would lift Glynda's mood.

 _"Please... please, I beg all the gods of Remnant, please keep Tiella safe."_

She's strong, yes. Physically and mentally.

Tenacious, for sure. She was never one to back down from a fight.

Strong-willed? Not even close. She's more willful than strong-willed and that's a fact — almost pigheaded at times, even.

An incredible person already at the tender age of 18. She's quick-witted and can make split-second decisions at even the most critical of times based on her past experiences.

But she's also a person filled with negativity.

She's insecure.

When drunk, she always clung to her like a child. Her tendency to kiss people when inebriated was a likely sign of her showing the affection she never allowed herself to show in fear of being shunned by others.

The solemn look in her gaze at times? A glimpse at the deep sadness she harbored in reality.

The wistful look that she casts out the window whenever she's alone? It's just her wallowing in her loneliness.

Her uncharacteristically short patience at times was a sign of anger aimed at no one but herself.

Her witty and sarcastic remarks that she often heard in her casual conversation was a peek at her cynical nature.

And the way she acted reserved when it came to all the good things coming her way? Nothing but a guilty conscience that never failed to stop herself from accepting the goodwill of others.

She loathes herself more than anyone else in the world, and because of it, she can't even think to give herself a chance of redemption aside from sacrificing herself for someone else's sake.

Helping others is a noble and admirable goal. However, the way she was doing it?

It's not admirable.

There's nothing admirable about it at all.

To her, it's deplorable to even think that it was after all that's said and done.

She's nothing but a child who had one foot into adulthood and the other still left in her teens. She's torn between acting like a girl her age and reacting the way she's taught based on her past experiences. She's living a life where she tries to be happy but ultimately deprives herself of true happiness because of sins she committed in the past that she can't ever forgive.

 _"She's in despair and I've done nothing but add to it. She's already a beacon of negativity even without the help of her Essentia!"_

The soft clink of a mug setting down the table took her away from her thoughts.

"Believe in Tiella."

Glynda looked back at Ozpin with a questioning glare.

"Do you remember the day we met her?"

She couldn't help but raise a brow at Ozpin's question — the others certainly had their curiosity piqued as well.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to." She scoffed, though a small half-smile adorned her face at the memory.

Ozpin smiled gently. "And I can't blame you for it. You were constraining her, twisting her body while pulling her apart because we thought she was an enemy."

"Hmph." She crossed her arms while she gave her a look.

"But don't you remember? She was rebellious even when she couldn't do a thing, restrained by your Telekinesis while experiencing excruciating pain. Her face was contorted in pain while she cursed for every five words when she spoke. And don't forget the _beautiful_ nicknames she gave us."

"You wouldn't let me even if I tried," Glynda said through gritted teeth while the other professors all had curious and amused smiles on their faces as they sensed the sarcasm in the Headmaster's tone.

Ozpin, unperturbed, continued while wearing a small smile on his features. "Despite all of that, the fire in her eyes never died — in fact, I remember it burning brighter. I'm sure she was contemplating taking us down when I proposed to talk things out first." A "ping" sound came from his scroll that took his attention away momentarily. He smiled, then looked back at Glynda while pocketing his scroll.

Glynda looked back at the memory with a blank expression, slowly understanding Ozpin's point.

 _"True... I remember the cold and lethal look in her eyes that day. It was the first time I saw someone so young with eyes glinting so dangerously."_

"So, believe in Tiella. Whether it's ten thousand or a hundred thousand Grimm, I'm positive that Tiella will keep fighting to her last breath."

Glynda looked down on her hands tightening their grip at her riding crop.

"And just as she won't stop fighting, we won't either," Ozpin declared as he walked to the window. He looked down and let a small grin appear on his features. "While you were all taking care of the horde earlier, I've called back every fourth-year and third-year student who were free of their missions. You may take with you some of the 2nd years as well if you deem them ready for the mission.

I've also called in some favors and alerted the Vale Military, so expect some familiar faces to help us out. I believe that Lilly said so before, yes? Hollowing's maximum range is a 600-meter radius with her at the center — I'm sure our students can take care of it."

The professors stood beside Ozpin and looked out below as well and there they saw around 60 of Beacon Academy's top elites gathered, armed and ready. With the sight of their students raring and willing to head out, Glynda felt a small bit of hope lighting up from within her.

 _"Of course... how could I forget our talented students? I've been so preoccupied with Tiella that I've neglected them. I'm a poor excuse for a professor."_

"Once you're ready, you will leave for the Emerald Forest and thin out the horde from beyond the range of Tiella's Essentia from the safety of our airships and when you get the chance, take a small elite team to swoop in and retrieve her after making sure that it's safe for you to come closer."

"And who will stay behind?"

"The first years and second years, of course. I will stay behind as well — I'm positive the four of you are more than enough to lead this operation. I need to handle the council and the other kingdoms, after all."

"I see."

Glynda stood alongside the other professors as they all prepared to leave the room. Ozpin gave them a commanding look, one that befitted the gravity and urgency of the situation.

"Professors," He said as he looked each and everyone in their eyes, "Your primary objective is to retrieve Celestiella V. Margory alive. While it's true that she is the one who called forth the Grimm, it's also true that ever since she arrived, she's been nothing but a great help to our students and staff members.

It is my failure as her boss that she was distressed so much under my watch. I left her to deal with her companion simply because I didn't think she would need our help. I see now that I was wrong and I deeply regret my inaction.

As long as she's at Beacon, she's my responsibility. _All of you_ are my responsibility.

So, I ask of you, please bring Tiella home."

With expressions resolute, they answered in unison. "Yes!"

As they left for the door, Glynda paused just shy of exiting the room to give Ozpin a grateful look. She nodded wordlessly before finally exiting.

* * *

"Ugh... What happened?"

Ruby held her head as she awoke groggily, the sound of a commotion just outside their dorm spurred her awake. She found herself within the comforting and warm arms of her partner, Weiss Schnee. She'd have stayed in her arms longer due to wanting to take advantage of the opportunity for skinship with her best friend but her confusion with how they ended up in their lovely orientation was enough to force her to action. She looked around and saw that they were back in their room, unable to remember how or what lead to their current circumstances.

"Why am I sleeping here?"

She gently pried Weiss's arms open to sit on the edge of her bed. Across the room on Blake's bed was the owner of said bed lying beside her sleeping sister. She tried standing up but found her strength slightly lacking, and so she nearly slipped and fell face-first had she not caught herself with a hand on the small desk by the window.

As she caught her bearings, her eyes wandered out their dorm's window and found a gathering of students at the courtyard. And at the front of it stood their professors.

"What is going on?" She looked back at her team then back out the window again. "Hey, team?"

She waited for a few seconds but no answer came. She went to Yang and shook her lightly to rouse her up.

"Hey, Yang? Yang, wake up."

Sleepily and tiredly, Yang half-opened her eyes as she looked back at Ruby. "What do you _want_ , Ruby?" She drawled softly in her sleepiness. "I'm so _tired_ right now, I just wanna sleep..."

"There's something going on outside — I dunno what it's about but I think it's something big."

"What?" Yang looked back at her sister in confusion before forcing herself to stand from Blake's bed. She yawned and stretched her body.

"Look out the window, come on!"

Curiously though still a little sleepy, Yang walked up and looked out the window just as her sister instructed. She was a little surprised and was certainly a tad more curious when she saw the gathered students in the courtyard.

"What's up with them? There an event going on right now? Those look like seniors."

"I don't know." Ruby pursed her lips with a shrug of her shoulders. "I just feel like something big's happening."

"What time is it anyway?" Yang asked as she looked at their wall clock. "10:38," She offhandedly read with a yawn. Though, before she could finish yawning, she did a double-take as her eyes widened. "10:38!?"

"What?"

Yang didn't answer immediately as she paused to regain her bearings. She searched her memories for the events of last night that could have possibly led to them oversleeping but could find nothing. So instead, she tried remembering their morning. After a moment of her eyes randomly darting their room, she looked back at Ruby in confusion.

"Ruby, how did we fall asleep again? I'm pretty sure we were on our way to Celeste this morning!"

"We were?"

"Yes!"

Ruby's eyes darted everywhere on the floor as she tried to remember their morning for moments until she gasped and her eyes widened in confusion and recognition. "We were!"

"How did we get back in our dorm!?" Yang said as she looked around until she finally noticed that they were all in their casual clothes. "Look, we never sleep in our casual clothes unless we're conked out and just ready to pass out!"

"Your right!" Ruby exclaimed as she rushed for Weiss. "Weiss! Weiss! Wake up!" She almost jumped onto Weiss' bed, bouncing slightly as she reached for Weiss' shoulders to shake her up.

" _Ruby Rose_ ," Weiss bit back through tightly gnashed teeth, " _I swear to Oum_ , somebody better be dying right now."

"We were supposed to visit Celeste today! No, wait! We were already there but something happened, right? Do you remember anything?"

"Blake? Blake!" Ruby heard Yang call out from behind her.

"I'm up, I'm up," Blake said in a shaky voice. "Stop shaking me, Yang! You're giving me a headache!"

"Do you remember what happened this morning!?" Yang asked anxiously.

"What? Didn't we just wake up today? It's still morning." Blake sighed in annoyance while looking at the clock. Reading that the time was well past 10 in the morning, her eyes widened slightly in confusion. "We've never slept in like this before."

"That's because we already woke up this morning to do our run!"

"You were _dreaming_ , Ruby," Weiss replied irritatedly while pulling her arm off of Ruby's hold. "We were just _tired_ last night. In fact, I'm _still_ tired. And since it's _finally_ our break — for the love of all that is _holy_ — please let me _rest_." She turned in bed, facing her back towards Ruby. "I will indulge you in whatever team outing or what have you later when I'm all freshened up."

"You were _carrying_ a tray of Tiella's favorites just hours ago!" Ruby nearly yelled in frustration.

Weiss clicked her tongue, throwing away any notion of sleep for the rest of the day until much later. As she sat on the edge of her bed while tiredly massaging her temple, she digested Ruby's words.

 _"Visiting Tiella... holding a tray of her favorites? Wait..."_

Weiss' eyes widened as she remembered the events of their morning. "I remember now..!"

"Finally!" Ruby yelled in relief. She sat down beside Weiss and quickly took her hands into hers. "What do you remember? I can only remember up to the part when you were carrying the tray."

Weiss incredulously looked at their hands held together and was about to say something against it until she saw the serious look in Ruby's eyes. While calming her breathing down, she looked to the side as she tried to recollect what happened as best as she could.

"We were... visiting Tiella, yes," Weiss confirmed once more.

"Uh-huh!"

"I was holding a tray of all her favorite food."

"Yeah!"

"And then we met up with Team JNPR in the hallway... we saw Ren holding a tray stacked high with pancakes."

"Okay, I can remember up to that!"

"And then... and then...!"

"And then...!?"

"And then we saw Tiella having a yelling match with Lilly."

Weiss and Ruby looked in front of them, at Blake who continued Weiss' train of thought seeing as she was having trouble as well.

"They were arguing," Blake said, eyebrows furrowed as she also tried to remember as best as she could. "Something about Lilly killing Tiella in her visions."

The statement made her teammates' eyes widened as the memory returned to them.

Yang continued. "And then Celeste got super mad and started throwing hands!"

"Yes, and I remember starting to feel weak at that point."

"Feel weak...?" Ruby turned her head to the side as she looked back on the memory, trying to remember whether she felt just as Blake mentioned. "Yeah... yeah! My knees felt like jelly and I couldn't breathe and, and, and the last thing I remember was a giant hole being blasted into the wall of the infirmary before passing out!"

"Me too!" Yang said with a snap of her fingers.

Weiss took in everyone's words as she huffed irritation and crossed her arms. "Whatever the case, something happened between them that ended up with us returning to our dorms somehow. I don't know about you, but _I_ need to find out what it was."

"Maybe the professors know?" Ruby asked, more to herself as she looked out the window.

* * *

"God damn it!"

Trees were toppled, Grimms vanished to nothingness, and the landscape was destroyed — it was very much just large scale environmental destruction. The Emerald Forest underwent so much change within the span of a few hours, from being trampled upon by myriad Grimm, blown down by Glynda's hurricanes, to becoming flattened and bulldozed by Bardel's strength, a certain professor just might cry from the sight of it.

"Where the hell are you, you dumb bitch!?"

Bardel's yell echoed through the Emerald Forest. Hundreds of Grimm disintegrated all around him but there was still no sign of the tall redhead anywhere. He watched as most of the creatures of Grimm ignored him and simply ran past him.

 _"It'd be so fucking easy and satisfying to just Tsar Bomba the fuck out of these black furry assholes but then I might hit Tiella. God damn fucking bitch and her shitty hero complex. Suicidal, selfish asshole!_

 _AND IF I GET TOO CLOSE, I PASS THE FUCK OUT! GOD DAMN IT!_

 _GOD DAMN IT!_

 _GOD FUCKING DAMN YOU, YOU GOD DAMN BITCH!"_

He ran forward, leaving deep footprints on the forest's ground, following the Grimm, hoping to find Tiella at the end of them all.

"TIELLAAAAA! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOOOOUUUUU!?"

* * *

"Damn, Shane, that's a shitload of Grimm."

"Damn sure, Jim. Gives me chills just lookin' at 'em. It's like looking at a scene hell."

At the eastern side of the Emerald Forest, a small outlier village a few dozen kilometers from the City of Vale called Caroberta can be found. There, 12 guards were gathered atop the village gate's walls and watchtowers, anxiously observing the swarm of Grimm running just outside their village. They sounded the alarm after seeing the first few packs of Grimm. They shot the nearest ones that came running, though they eventually stopped as soon as they realized that, despite being shot and killed, the Grimm swarm never paid them any attention.

Even though the villagers themselves were feeling extremely scared and anxious, they were never once attacked. Not even once did the Grimm even look their way.

They just... continued running towards _something somewhere_.

"What the hell is goin' on?"

"I sure as hell don't know but I'm damn grateful they don't care about us right now... because, Oum, help us if that lot came runnin' for our little village."

One of the guards held her hands together tightly as she took a knee and prayed. Her hands trembled as her forehead perspired.

"P-Praise be to Oum for protecting our village with his light! Praise be to Oum…!"

Another one of the guards, one who was looking through his sniper's scope, was letting his gaze wander about in search of something. He didn't know what to look for but he felt that if he continued looking out like so, he was bound to find something related to the strange actions of the Grimm. Though, while he thought that, he also believed that he wouldn't actually find anything since the trees surrounding the village were quite densely packed even if the Grimm were trampling some of them down. Goliaths were joining the fray too.

As he peered through his scope, he heard the sound of a helicopter far above their village that made him look up. It appeared to be one of the many news choppers sent out for anything that happens outside the high walls of Vale. Within the chopper, a woman with sharp brown eyes looked down at the forest while holding a microphone. She was an eagle faunus and she was making commentary while her cameraman was taking live footage of the horde.

"Are you seeing this, Mike? I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't here to see it for myself!

The swarm of Grimm are _ignoring_ the small village of Caroberta just dozens of _meters_ away from their gate! It's _unthinkable_ that Grimm would _ignore_ settlements like this even if you disregard the fact that Grimm have _never_ been known to migrate in thousands just like what you're seeing! We're looking at Grimm that shouldn't be found in this region of the continent!

And we're estimating them nearing _ten thousand_ according to a quick tower scan!

Either they're running from something or chasing something, it's like a scene from hell!

And look above us!"

The camera was panned to the sky when they noticed thousands more Grimm were flying past them as if they were never there.

"All the flying Grimm are ignoring us as well! Like we're _invisible_ to them! In all my years reporting about Grimm cases, never have I ever seen anything quite like this! Truly, this is a day that will go down in history!"

She looked back to the forest below them as the helicopter slowly moved forward. And dozens of kilometers away, she could see an incredibly thick concentration of Grimm — so much so that that part of the Emerald Forest looked as if it was painted black. At the center of the Grimm concentration was the sight of thick black smoke rising up in the air. All the flying Grimm were converging and attacking that one point as well.

"Look there!" The reporter said as she pointed her microphone towards the mass of blackness in the distance. "The flying Grimm are all attacking that one point! Mr. Pilot, move us closer!"

"Are you crazy!? We're gonna die!"

"We're not getting attacked for some reason, so I think we should be safe for now!"

"I have a family waiting for me in Vale, god damn it!"

"And if we don't figure out why this is happening, you can bet that this horde is going to target Vale soon! Along with _my_ family and _yours!_ "

There was a moment of silent contemplation for the pilot as he gritted his teeth in frustration and impatiently tapped his foot. He smashed his fist on the windshield to the side of the cockpit.

"Fine, god damn it! For the record, I'm doing this under protest!" He let out a deep and long sigh as he spoke under his breath. "Oum better watch out for us..."

The cameraman, though he had yet to say a word, was in full agreement with the pilot as he sincerely regretted not bringing at least one huntsman with them. He had no doubt that the guns on their helicopter won't be enough to defend them should they be targeted by even just a small pack of Grimm.

The helicopter moved to the converging point of Grimm despite the great reluctance of the pilot. As they moved closer, the roars became louder, and the sound of something crashing or the like could be heard. It was clear to them now that the Grimm were targeting something, though they couldn't quite figure out what it was just yet.

As they came closer, the convergence point became clearer.

"I... I can't _believe_ this..." The reporter said while absolutely dumbfounded by what she found.

The cameraman and pilot heard the reporter's soft and shaky voice through their earpieces and it made them nervous. The reporter, without looking away, helped the cameraman aim at what she was seeing and the sheer surprise in his eyes couldn't be described when he finally understood what shocked the reporter so.

With the help of her eagle eyes, she was able to clearly see the scene of a _lone woman barehandedly tearing through the Grimm horde_.

* * *

Her red braided twintails spun and twirled as she kicked through one Ursa's body and onto a Boarbatusk's head. She jumped off of it and landed on top of a Beowolf, which she used as a stepping stone to leap high into the air — the force of her jump kicked the Beowolf hard into the ground and broke its jaw.

As she twirled in the air, she was met by a few Nevermores aiming to take a few bites out of her. She took her Desert Eagle and quickly charged it up with her Aura to fire at the Nevermore just centimeters before she was nabbed in the air. The blast obliterated one of them completely, even hitting the few unlucky ones directly behind it.

The gunshot was more akin to a hand cannon with how the flare was magnificently glaring red and the recoil made her spin the opposite way as she fell down.

While freefalling, she holstered her gun to conserve ammo and Aura as best as she could. And on her way down, she noticed another flying Grimm, one that she did not know the name of despite her familiarity with it through Port's classes (one with a bird's head and a large cat's body), was swooping in to kill her while a King Taijitu, along with a few Beowolves, Ursi, and Boarbatusks, waited with open jaws on the ground directly below her.

 _"I feel calm."_

She took out both of her Desert Eagles and fired at both open jaws, blasting through their heads and the Ursi and Beowolves close to them. The recoil from the double shot momentarily stopped her fall enough for the flying hybrid Grimm to miss by going beneath her. She used the opportunity to step on the Grimm and hung onto its neck.

 _"At peace… like I'm where I'm meant to be."_

She took her gauntleted left hand, claws out, and dug it deep into the Grimm's throat only to violently rip it out. She fell once more after flying a few meters up thanks to the now vanishing Grimm. She charged up her left hand with Aura as much as she could, damned the amount and whether she could control it, to slam her fist hard atop a Gorilla-like Grimm's skull.

The impact blew off the Grimm's head and her fist crashed into the ground, sending out a shockwave that pushed the nearby Grimm away. She knelt on the ground where she crashed to take a short breather while assessing her situation.

 _"There's nowhere else for me."_

She noticed about half a dozen Creeps ran for her on all sides while the others kept their distance in waiting. She let herself fall flat on her back as the Creeps converged on her point. The closest three bumped on each other's heads, causing them to stumble and fall, halting the other Creeps behind them in their steps.

She took the opportunity to do a quick kip-up to immediately stomp the ground and slightly knock the Creeps into the air before falling back to the ground to use the momentum to spin on her shoulders and kick (No Hands Windmill) all three up, juggle them (Flares) for a few seconds, and finally kick them all away (Air Flares) into nearby trees and Grimm.

 _"A warm apartment?_

 _Good food?_

 _Soft bed?_

 _A loving girlfriend with a dynamite body? Super genius bombshell for a best friend? Eternal sparring partner, who just so happens to be a huge fucking idiot? A childhood friend who is so close to me she may as well be my soul sister?_

 _That kind of heaven? None of that fits me._

 _Here, though?_

 _In this hell here — surrounded by Grimm, all aiming to kill me, eat me, destroy me — that I'm calmest._

 _It's not to say I'm particularly happy, it's just that it's where I'm most normal._

 _Like a spider in its web, it's here that I feel the most alive and free."_

She halted in her kicks as she took a knee and a hand on the ground to assess her situation once again. She stood and ran through the Grimm while punching and kicking anything that came too close in an attempt to further lure them away.

 _"It's only when I'm fighting for my life when I truly feel like myself._

 _And I know — that's not good."_

She vaulted up an Alpha Beowolf while grabbing its top snout with her gauntlet, crushing it with her grip while pulling the Grimm's head along with her as she landed. She used the slowly vanishing head as a soccer ball and kicked it towards a lunging Ursa, staggering it in its tracks.

 _"So, before I die, I'll do one final good._

 _I'll rid this world of as much Grimm as I can._

 _I'll keep killing until I can't kill anymore._

 _After all, that's what I'm good at."_

She let out a weak, self-deprecating chuckle as she grinned at the Grimm before her. It was another Deathstalker, one that seemed larger than usual — an Alpha, she guessed, but it looked like it had thicker armor and had more spikes, so an Elder, perhaps?

Either way, she let out a breath as she put up her fighting stance, reminding herself of all the people she'd met along the way.

"Before I go to hell, I'll take as many of you as I can with me!"

She ran for the Deathstalker, dodging its giant pincers and tail. She slid under its belly and positioned herself for a powerful, glowing red uppercut. She shot her fist up, lifting the Deathstalker a few centimeters off the ground despite its weight, putting a large dent on the soft armor of its underbelly. She took the chance to draw her knife into the cracks she made and buried it hilt-deep.

She gritted her teeth, clutched her knife with both hands, and sliced open the Deathstalker's underside before crawling away lest she get squished as the giant scorpion writhed and thrashed above her.

"Now I know you assholes don't care but my name is Celestiella Valmary Margory!

Daughter to the late heroes Elena Valmary Margory and Rudolph Ambrose Margory!

Sister to the prodigal Merga Valmary Margory!

I've lived a life of plunder — taking and being taken from!

But for my final act…

I'll do one final good and kill every single furry fuck until none of you are — _HOLY-!_ "

Tiella dodged a flurry of four-meter tall razor-sharp black feathers by backflipping over other Grimm. In the end, she wasn't hit but the Grimm who didn't have the chance to move away due to how densely packed they were had died in her stead.

She had a painfully throbbing vein almost pop out of her forehead when she landed and looked up at the Nevermores. She pointed at them and yelled in pure indignation.

"I WAS TRYNNA HAVE A MOMENT HERE, YOU," She pulled her guns out and fired at every single flying Grimm she could find. " _GIANT FURRY CUNTBAGS!_ "

She managed to shoot a couple dozen Grimm out of the sky and back into nothingness before needing to reload, but for every single Grimm killed, 10 showed up to replace them.

"COME OOOON!" She yelled unperturbed by the seemingly unending flow of Grimm.

The creatures of darkness roared in response, so she let out her own battle cry.

Her mind was focused on the battle in front of her. She was dedicating every fiber of her being, every cell in her body, and every waking breath to killing everything.

 _"It's what I'm best at."_ She thought. _"This is where everything feels right."_

* * *

At the small isle of Patch, a girl taking her first break of the day was searching through social media until she stumbled upon the live feed. She clicked on it out of curiosity when she read the caption " _Thousands of Grimm swarm the Emerald Forest_ ".

Her first reaction was fear. Fear that all those Grimm were just outside the safety of Vale's high walls as well as the fear that they were all gathered to attack the city and would eventually move on to their little island. But as the clip moved on and the camera zoomed in at the center of all those Grimm, she slowly recognized the figure of a woman with red hair fighting at the center — all alone.

She gasped and dropped the sandwich she was eating on the floor. "It's Tiella..."

"What?"

One of her friends looked back at her in confusion when she noticed her drop the sandwich she was eating. Curiously, she looked at her friend's scroll.

"What're you watching?"

" _It's Tiella..!_ " She answered in panic while lightly elbowing her friend.

"Tiella? The tall huntress that was together with Headmaster Ozpin?"

"Yes!"

Indeed, it was Casey, the girl who was Ozpin's little fan, and her two other friends, Marian and Clarisse. The girl who first noticed something amiss with Casey was Marian, a cat faunus who'd been friends with her since childhood.

"What? What's that about anyway?" Clarisse asked.

Casey showed her scroll to the both of them and they were instantly shaken with fear, but then it was quickly replaced by awe when they saw the huntress they met that day fighting alone while surrounded from all sides by Grimm.

"Why is she fighting alone? Where's her team!?" Marian asked in disbelief. "And she's _barehanded!?_ "

Casey was unable to say anything as she was completely taken in by the sight of a valiant, red-haired huntress, fighting the Grimm horde on her own. It was foolish — she rationally thought — but deep within her, she was captivated. To her, it was as if she was watching a legend unfold like the ones told in the fairy tales about heroes and monsters she read about as a child.

Because at that moment, her hero was Tiella.

And it wasn't just her who felt that way.

Across the seas and into the city of Vale, much nearer to the Grimm apocalypse, people watched and listened to the live footage as well.

A waitress at a certain pizza restaurant spilled water over the table of a customer as she watched dumbfounded the sight of the girl who once gave her a 50 lien tip.

A pâtissière of a certain patisserie frequented by Beacon staff and students was stunned when she recognized the familiar head of red hair that once visited her shop with the Esteemed Headmaster.

Even the chief of Vale's police department couldn't believe his eyes and ears when he watched as the tall, uncooperative, red-haired huntress plow through the Grimm horde by her lonesome.

All across Vale, all very different people living very different lives. The only thing in common they had was the fact that, at some level, they had interacted with the girl.

And as they watched, a foreboding sense of death and destruction filled their hearts.

However, the scene of a lone woman — one that they only met in passing — fighting back the hateful scourge of evils as best she could, ignited a small flame in their hearts, minds, and souls.

She bashed and kicked, spun and hit, crashed and ducked, rolled and flipped, stomped and killed. With all the grace and brutality she could muster. The coldness of her look, the lethality of her motions, the strength of her strikes, and the finesse of her techniques — it was all she truly ever dreamed of.

A place where she could break her limits over and over. The rush of battle, the thrill of killing without moral repercussions, the pressure of a minor err that could and would certainly lead to her death.

It was as if she was back in the moment she was facing off the greatest aberration of all and she felt ecstatic over it despite the trauma. It was paradoxical and hypocritical. But, in the end, she didn't care. She was, after all, a firm believer that a minute in the battlefield beats a full week of training. So she held nothing back. No holds barred, no punches pulled — just pure unadulterated brutality.

Any onlooker would think her Grimm in human clothing.

 _"But it's not enough..."_

She smashed through the jaw of an Ursa Major, her fist blowing a hole through its head.

 _"I need more power..."_

She pulled her fist and used the momentum to backhand a lunging Taijitu from behind her and roundhouse kicked a rolling Boarbatusk from her left.

 _"THIS ISN'T ENOUGH TO KILL EVERYTHING HERE!"_

Even though her moves were getting sharper every time, even though her strikes were becoming more accurate for every hit, even though she was getting closer and closer to entering what she could only describe as "The Zone", she still felt her strength lacking.

Like a simple man that struck an ocean, despite her continuously honed skills and techniques, she dealt naught in the face of the horde.

As she jumped and kneed the other Taijitu's head away, a quake of the earth shook her footing when she landed. It was only minor disorientation, no different from stepping on a pebble as you walk on an otherwise flat and even sidewalk. But it was enough for the onslaught of Grimm to take advantage of. Her eyes went wide as she searched the source and damned her recklessness when she saw the Goliaths she attracted stampeding their way over to her.

 _"Shit..!"_

And so it was then that she took the first of _many_ killing blows.

The citizens of Vale, even those who watched from outside the kingdom felt their hearts sink in despair as they watched their lone heroine fall, pummeled, and beaten.

Oh, hero..!

Oh, child...

 **You fought so bravely, so gallantly!**

 ** _So selfishly..._**

 **...isn't that right, child?**

 **I wonder...**

 **...would they still think the same had they known that it was you who brought them here?**

 **Would they still think your efforts valiant and noble?**

 _ **Heroic? Like you so deeply aspire to be?**_

 _"Jesus Christ, not you again..."_

 **Laughable.**

 _"Shut up..."_

 **More's the pity, truthfully.**

 _"Shut the fuck up!"_

 **But you care not, yes?**

 _"I told you to shut your fucking hole!"_

 **I understand. Truly, I do.**

 _"The hell do you know..!?"_

 **In my time, I lost more than you can ever know for promises I've yet to break.**

 _"TALK TO SOMEONE WHO GIVES A FUCKING DAMN!"_

 **You understand, too, do you not?**

 **Your end is nigh.**

 **Even should help come, it'll all be too late.**

 **But I am here.**

 _"If you don't clam the fuck up, I'll kill you as soon as I'm done with these fucking Grimm!"_

 **So throw all your reservations away.**

 _"Shut up!"_

 **Let yourself go.**

 _"SHUT UP!"_

 **Set yourself free and accept your gift.**

 _"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"_

 **Your** _ **blessing — from me to you**_ **.**

 _"YOU'RE NO ONE!"_

 **Grasp your Soul!**

 _"NO!"_

 **Take hold of the world!**

 _"FUCK OFF!"_

 **TRANSCEND HUMANITY!**

" _SHUT IT!_ "

 **I will not allow you to fall to a measly lot of ticks and fleas!**

" _STOOOOOOOOOOP!_ "

 **I will not let you fall here...**

 **...for you are My one and only Chosen** _ **.**_

— **My child, my Daughter of Absolute Evil.**

* * *

A blood-curdling scream rippled through the bellows of Grimm — a roar that could express nothing but hate, sorrow, and madness took even the Grimm aback as they all halted and observed the transformation happening within the girl's mind, body, and soul.

She was forced to fall on her knees as she grabbed her head in agony, a vain attempt to soothe the throbbing pain that drove her numb and mad.

She screeched and writhed in torment — unable to keep herself up, she fell to the ground and squirmed as her Essentia pulsed stronger and stronger as time passed.

Leaves fell, plants wilted, branches broke off, and trees died in droves.

Animals withered and were on death's door after simply a few steps' worth of attempts to get away from her.

The girl, meanwhile, was glowing as black as a moonless, starless, sunless sky with mere remnants of flame-like red flickering around her body. Her strength was growing as time passed by, to the point that her red and black Aura could not help but leak out of her.

She smashed her left fist on the ground, and like a cannonball, caused cracks to form as dirt and dust exploded, blowing all that surrounded her away.

She stretched her neck, rotating it slowly from the pain she felt. She snarled and growled, much like the beasts she'd been killing just minutes ago. Her skin burned bright until it was charred black and turned ashen white as she writhed, arching her back.

The Grimm that surrounded her became confused — one moment she was a very delicious human they were all dining on, the next moment, she felt like Grimm. Similar, but not quite. Evil, but also something _far_ more.

Was she Grimm?

Was she human?

Was she both?

Was she neither?

A human Grimm?

A Grimm human?

Regardless of the Grimm's confusion, both newborn and elder in their stages of life, Tiella's transformation was something they could not take their eyes off of — especially the world who was watching every single moment of it.

They whose lives wore stolen by her Essentia, the life energy of those who were affected — the mass of souls forming an astral line that trailed towards her.

Enveloped in a magnificent light, Tiella looked up, her beautiful golden irises having turned to slits as they glowed balefully yellow in nature much like a Grimm's. Her lips, once a vibrant pink, turned deathly dark, dry, and pale. Her hair that shined brilliantly like crimson flames lost their luster as it turned hazy, ashen gray, and dull. Her skin that was once lustrous of the sheen of her sweat and hardened through years of experience cracked as if she was fragile ceramic.

As her transformation happened, the Elders among the Grimm howled as if rejoicing — _welcoming_ — the change. Shortly thereafter, the younglings followed suit. A gathering of darkness, a celebration of malice, the advent of evil.

The moment she propped up a knee while still kneeling on the other, everything stopped. The Grimm did not bellow nor did they roar. Animals that were still alive dared not even whimper as their instincts told them to, even as they withered away.

she slowly stood from the ground, she lightly and nonchalantly clenched and opened her fingers as she observed at them. After a few repetitions, she clenched hard with enough force to send out rippling shockwaves that shook the trees that surrounded her and killed all nearby Grimm. The force broke the gauntlet she lovingly wore into pieces that easily fell to the ground, revealing hands as black as the night that faded to a sickly pale ashen white upon reaching her elbows. The nails on her fingers turned into long, razor-sharp claws that were doubtlessly harder than diamonds.

Softly, she chuckled to herself, dusting herself off as she gave herself a once-over. She ended her chuckling with a relieved sigh as she looked around in leisure.

The wildlife had withered and died, turning a large section of the Emerald Forest into a barren wasteland. The Grimm waited in bated breath as they watched the new being before them.

She stood upright, holding herself with the dignity and poise of one that bore such majesty and royalty. And just as she crossed her arms and eyed each surrounding Grimm, one by one, they all sat down and bowed their heads to the ground. The sight of it filled her with contentment — enough that she could not help the small, regal smile from spreading across her dark, stricken features.

She nodded in satisfaction. **"In the end, Evil will tear all worlds asunder."**

Her voice echoed like an ominous bell that spread throughout the forest. It quaked the earth and split it apart until it tore the mountain in the middle of the forest in half, spilling molten rocks and setting the forest aflame. Birds flocked away and herds ran as far as they could, though some were unlucky to get caught and fall into the fiery pits of the mountain.

Suddenly, an ear-piercing screech bellowed from within the mountain and traveled across the forest.

* * *

" _Tielle!_ "

Within the infirmary of Beacon Academy, a certain bandaged girl resting to regain her strength back sprung to sit upright. She gasped for air as she looked around in anxiety and uncertainty of where she was. She eyed her arms and body with a hard look on her face, throwing the bedsheet off of her and onto the floor. She found that she'd been nursed for again, but due to her Aura, she healed rapidly almost up to a full recovery.

She clenched her fist and tightened her muscles, shattering the cast that covered her forearm and revealing a hand that looked as if it was never damaged. She ripped the bloodied bandages off her person and copped her supposed wounds for a feel only to find that there was none but mild pain where she was hit.

Suddenly, the hair on her skin stood on ends as her spine tingled in anxiety. She looked out the window and saw a blackened horizon.

Her eyes widened at the sight, reminded of the day she could not ever forget even should she try.

"Tielle...?"

Of the day the three of them nearly died to a humanoid aberration — a monster of monsters.

Her lips quivered, her fingers shivered, and her teeth chattered. She hugged herself tightly even when she could not take her eyes away.

Until she remembered the last time she saw Tiella's face.

She saw much sadness and despair from those beautiful golden eyes. The betrayal she sensed from them, the loneliness, the sorrow, the anger, and the hopelessness for both the world and herself.

 _"I've already made the mistake of pushing you too far."_

She grasped her hands together, her fists clenching hard — the shivering in her body all but disappeared. Her resolved renewed, she looked out with a pair of hardened purple eyes.

 _"I'm a failure as a friend... but that doesn't mean I'll stop being yours even if you won't have me!"_

She ran towards her dorm room, ignoring the people around her despite calling out to her, and quickly geared up. She donned her battle gear and equipped her beloved weapons, the Gladiator Sword Marius — sharp, sturdy, and heavy. And the Gladiator Round Shield Rosetta that bore an engraving of the burning iris, the crest of the Vernillion household.

Both weapons she crafted on her own and both of which she named after her family's head butler and head maid in honor of their unwavering loyalty and service to the House of Vernillion.

She eyed the item gifted to her by her parents. It was, long, roughly 4 feet in length, wrapped in holy cloth, bandaged, and chained with hanging pieces of paper with runes written on it and it was all tied together by a series of padlocks. She reached a hand to grab it but hesitated at the barest centimeters to touch it. She shook her head and pulled her hand away.

 _"I don't need it. In truth, I have a feeling that it would be counterproductive to bring it. I'm sorry, mama, papa, but I'll have to do this without it. Besides, I don't believe I can control it just yet."_

She gave herself a once over in front of the mirror and double-checked for anything else she might need. Satisfied that she had everything she needed on her person and in her backpack she nodded.

"I spent a long time looking for you and when I finally did, I only pushed you away. I just hope I'm not too late when I get to you."

She ran outside and reached the airship docks where the Professors and students were preparing to depart.

"Lilly!"

Lilly stopped in her tracks as she approached. "Glynda!"

"Are you alright? You were bleeding so much!"

"I'm fine now, my Aura healed the worst of it. I'm still a little tired from Tielle's Hollowing but other than that, I'm all healed up."

 _"That much damage healed up by her Aura alone?"_

Glynda carefully scrutinized the girl to see whether she was simply putting up a front or telling the truth. After seeing no visible signs of injuries, she pursed her lips and adjusted her glasses.

 _"Incredible...!"_

"In that case, please help us. We're going to the Emerald Forest to save Tiella. She just—"

"Did she run off and lure the Grimm away with her Hollowing?"

Glynda paused for a second while adjusting her glasses. "Y-Yes."

"Figures." Lilly pursed her lips. "I'm sure Ozpin already told you to bring snipers to take out the surrounding Grimm from at least 600 meters away?"

Glynda looked at the girl in disbelief while the girl herself ignored the look as she was in deep thought of their next possible steps. After a moment, she answered. "Yes."

"Will you bring a small team to retrieve Tiella when given the chance?"

"Yes." Glynda shook herself from her mild shock. "We plan to trim the Grimm around Tiella down as soon as we find her, then go in with a high mobility team to rescue her."

"That's not enough. Assuming she's using Hollowing, just entering its zone will be enough to wind your students so they'll only end up retreating or, in the worst case, get eaten." Lilly held a thumb to her lips in thought with a brow raised and her eyes cast down. "I'll do it."

"What? By yourself?"

"I can use The One Almighty to cover a large distance in an instant."

"The One Almighty?" Glynda tilted her head in curiosity.

Lilly grinned. "You've seen it before — it's my ultimate move!"

Glynda paused again to think back on Lilly's fights and the most noteworthy thing she could remember was how unbelievably fast she became whenever her eyes glowed brightly.

"For one second, I have all the time in the world to do anything I want," Lilly said as she strove towards one of the airship docks with Glynda closely following behind. "It's a technique that lets me move just as fast as my eyes can see. I suppose it's the penultimate technique I learned after using God Eyes for as much as I can ever since I received it."

"Penultimate?"

"Yes." Lilly stopped in front of the crowd of students and professors before turning to face Glynda with a small smile. "I believe that I've yet to reach the peak of my Essentia if my theory is correct."

Glynda's surprise at the girl was something she couldn't help herself from. So far, every person from the other world had been incredible in their own ways — and she wasn't one to give such high praise so lightly.

"Let me see…" Lilly muttered as she sent her gaze towards everyone and everything. "64 students, 4 professors, 4 bullheads… and no sign of Bardy. He's probably lost in the forest if he went chasing after Tielle but he'll be fine."

* * *

In a way...

" _WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?_ "

...he was.

* * *

"Glynda, I need to know the roles of each person participating in this mission. Who the snipers are, supports, vanguards — everything, down to the smallest detail. The more information, the better."

Glynda nodded. "Very well."

"Also, bring teams RWBY and JNPR with us and put them under my wing, I need them for something."

"What for, if I may? Those two teams arrived just a little while ago asking to join. I denied, of course, they're still just first years. This mission is far too dangerous. I honestly feel that we should invite more huntsmen to join us."

Lilly's eyes glowed a little as she met Glynda's gaze. She smiled after reading a small hint of doubt in her eyes.

"Inviting more huntsmen is a wise decision if Ozpin hasn't already. Anyway, one of Hollowing's side effects is emotional instability that gets worse the longer it's used. Tielle, simply put, gets these extreme mood swings that could last for hours. Now, that might not sound so dangerous, but you have to remember that-"

"-that Hollowing's strength grows in direct proportion to her feelings of hatred. So should her mood ever plummet, or her temper rise in extremes..."

Lilly nodded, affirming Glynda's words and speculations. "Seeing some friends may or may not help her calm down, I'm not sure as I haven't tried it before. Either way, they can still be useful as snipers — especially Ruby and Nora if I remember correctly. Weiss as well for her versatility as a very well-rounded support. The rest may serve as their back-up and vanguards to keep the Grimm off them."

Glynda contemplated Lilly's words. It's true that the two teams have been particularly close to Tiella lately, Team RWBY in particular. She nodded after a moment of consideration and remembering that Lilly held the same authority as Ozpin when it came to matters such as their current situation.

"In that case, should I have Team CFVY transferred to you?"

Lilly tilted her head cutely, wondering about their connection to Tiella. Seeing the reaction, Glynda opted to answer the silent question.

"Team CFVY is a second-year team and their two members, Miss Adel and Miss Scarlatina, in particular, are good friends with Tiella. You could even say that they're closer to her than any other student."

 _"Ah, I remember Tielle mentioning a Team CFVY before. And these two girls are closer to her than Team RWBY, huh? Interesting. I must meet them."_

"Please do." Lilly nodded. "I'd even ask for you to come with me if you weren't handling a group yourself. I suppose I could only ask you to stay near my team if you can and be ready to assist at any time."

Glynda's expression tightened almost imperceptibly, but to Lillianne's eyes, she may as well have held a signboard announcing her nervousness, guilt, and anxiety to the world. Seeing this, Lilly's brows furrowed as she stared Glynda hard in the eyes.

"What happened between you and Tielle?"

Glynda swallowed thickly as she pursed her lips and avoided eye contact with the smaller girl. But it was a futile attempt to hide from Lillianne's nigh omnipercipience. Lilly's brows furrowed further after figuring things out in her mind. She clicked her tongue, which was a rarely seen act from the optimistic girl, and it caused Glynda to flinch slightly, which was also a rare occurrence.

"Damn it, Tielle."

She muttered while biting the nail on her thumb and her eyes downcast, though immediately, she shook her head from her train of thought and focused back on retrieving her friend. Mending her relationship with Glynda will simply have to wait. She looked back at Glynda and noticed the anxiety in her eyes growing, so she put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Glynda. I'll help you with Tielle, I know firsthand how dense and thickheaded she can be when it comes to things like this."

The smile she received posed effectively as it was enough to calm her nerves about Lilly being angry at her for causing her best friend to run away with thousands of Grimm chasing after her. She couldn't blame her if she had, in fact, something inside her wished that Lilly would get mad at her.

"Besides, this is all my fault in the first place." Her reassuring smile had turned self-deprecating as her eyes were sent down.

Glynda would have asked her how that was the case but Peach approached them before she could.

"Professor Goodwitch, we're ready."

They both eyed her with blank looks on their faces. They shared a look between the three of them, then both Lilly and Glynda nodded at her.

"There's going to be a few changes in plans, Lilly will be leading a team of her own. She will have Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY with her."

Peach looked at Lilly confusedly, though she nodded her head as she didn't really have much say against the Deputy Headmistress even if she held reservations.

"Don't worry, Professor Peach." Lilly smiled, holding an enclosed fist over her heart while meeting her gaze head-on. "I'll protect them with my life. It's a promise. And a Vernillion never goes back on a word once given."

Peach felt a tinge overwhelmed by the unnatural radiance the black-haired girl seemed to emit. Her posture, her tone of voice, her words, but most importantly, her eyes somehow lent credence that she would indeed uphold her promise or die trying despite barely knowing the girl.

"Are you sure you're fine? Didn't you just wake up? And I remember you being all banged-up earlier, I was the one who bandaged you up after all."

Lilly smiled gratefully while bowing her head graciously. "Thank you so much for taking care of me, and I sincerely apologize for causing so much trouble."

"Oh, come off it!" Peach dismissed with a wave and a smile. "We have bigger things to worry about right now!"

"Your words ring true, Professor."

* * *

They spent the next 20 minutes reorganizing themselves based on the changes Lilly and Glynda made together. Lilly made a few more changes regarding team formation after receiving an overview of the Grimm's position in the Emerald Forest. She grouped each team to specifically be able to function well in the worst-case scenario should their Professor be unable to provide assistance as well as balancing out the strengths and weaknesses of each team, thus optimizing both offense and defense in the likely chance that their plan to simply stay far away and shoot the Grimm down in the airships fail.

And so, each airship held 4 teams and one professor. One team to focus on defending, another to focus on supporting the rest of their group, and two teams for high-powered artillery or at least as close to it as they can be. Each team was not perfectly equal when it came to the roles Lilly laid out but it was the best she can provide to make sure of their survivability while ensuring the success of the mission to kill the horde of Grimm and opening a path to Tiella.

On a 5th airship was Lilly, and in her team were RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY.

As Glynda and the other professors noticed, there was an imbalance apparent in Lilly's team. The most notable was that there were only 3 teams instead of 4. The second was that over half of them were just first years. Talented first years at the top of their year level, but first years nonetheless.

"It'll be fine, Glynda. They have me with them. And I'll be sure to pick up Bardy along the way."

"But that's—"

"Also, they've been following in Tielle's footsteps, yes?" Lilly turned to eye the teams underneath her wing with an inquisitive glimmer. "Directly or indirectly, they should have been following Tielle's style of training. They are, in my professional opinion, qualified for this mission." She smiled confidently. "I can see it."

Sensing that it would be pointless to argue with Lilly, Glynda conceded half reluctantly. As their professor in combat, she was familiar with how well each student has grown since the beginning of the year and it was true that teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY have made leaps and bounds in improving themselves compared to the rate of growth of the average team.

She was almost inclined to believe that their skills in combat alone were already comparable to the year above them. _Almost_. Skill in fighting isn't everything in the field, after all.

"Very well. Their lives are _your_ responsibility." She adjusted her glasses to eye Lilly critically. She may agree with Lilly's points but that didn't mean she was happy nor willing to do so. "Remember, the mission isn't over until everyone's home."

"Of course." Lilly nodded sagely, understanding Glynda's worry for her students. "I swear to keep them safe even should it cost me my life." She swore with a hand on her chest.

"Everyone includes _you_ ," Glynda emphasized. "Tiella will _not_ be happy to return if it means leaving you behind."

Lilly smiled softly at Glynda's words. "Of course. Stay safe as well, Glynda. Tiella would break if she finds out that you don't come back with us."

Glynda's eyes softened at Lilly's statement. "I still have to apologize to her too."

"That makes two of us."

And with that, they all boarded their designated ships and went into formation in the skies.

Team RWBY was sitting on one side of the airship as they mentally prepared themselves for their biggest mission yet. Thoughts wandered and speculations were made, but they were all answered when Lilly explained her reasons for specifically choosing them to go with her.

 _"She said it was because our presence might help Celeste feel at ease."_ Ruby thought as she idly caressed Crescent Rose. _"But even she isn't sure if it would really work out as she hopes. So in the chance that we don't help in that part, we could at least do our original plan which was to kill Grimm from 600 meters away. But I'm the only one in the team that can really fight at that distance."_

She shifted in place while glancing out the window.

 _"I hope Celeste is okay."_

She shook herself from her worries and hardened the look in her eyes.

 _"Celeste will be fine. She's strong, like a star — big and bright. I need to make sure my team does well. I should talk things over with Lilly again."_

Ruby sent her gaze to her left where Weiss sat beside her. There, Weiss was focused on polishing Myrtenaster's blade with a piece of cloth.

 _"If it helps Tiella, then I'd be happy to oblige, honored, even to be a part of such a huge mission, but..."_ Weiss's brows furrowed slightly as a scowl appeared on her features. _"...that idiot. That big dumb oaf! Why didn't she speak to any of us!? If she was so worried over a lot of things, why didn't she consult with us?! Even if we couldn't have anything constructive to say, we could have at least heard her out!_

 _How_ _ **dare**_ _she forget the advice_ _ **she**_ _gave to_ _ **me**_ _when_ _ **I**_ _was at_ _ **my**_ _wit's end in trying to apologize to Ruby!? Practice what you preach, you stupid lamppost! I thought we were friends! How_ _ **dare**_ _she shoulder something heavy like that until she broke down in silence!? Is our friendship superficial to her!?"_

Weiss's motions became faster and rougher the longer she thought until she eventually let out an angry huff while sheathing Myrtenaster and checking on her Dust vials with an angry scowl on her face. To her left, Blake meditated with her eyes shut. She was still a little tired from Hollowing — they all were — so she was trying to regain as much energy as she could. Especially for a mission as big as this.

 _"To think that she was carrying so much guilt. I never once noticed despite spending time slowly trying to get to know each other. I can understand why she wouldn't want to talk about it, I carry things I deeply regret doing until now but…_

 _...but unlike me, she didn't run away. She might have gone off, but she didn't run away from her guilt. She's still trying to atone._

 _And I…"_

Blake opened her eyes and looked at her hands. She clenched them a few times as she thought back on previous interactions with the taller redhead.

 _"I find it admirable. I respect you. I respect and look up to you, Tiella. You, a human who-... no."_ She lightly shook her head as a small smile graced her lips. _"Human or not, you never cared, right? 'An asshole is an asshole no matter your race is', right?_

 _We've only been in your care for around a month, but it's a month filled with most of my brightest days. Weiss told me that you helped convince her to talk things out with me back when I ran away and I will forever be grateful to you because of that. I made the most unlikely friend a faunus could ever make in the world — in this world._

 _But now, you're in the dark, so I think it's only right that I return the favor._

 _Wait for us, Tiella. We're coming to save you."_

Off to Blake's left was Yang standing by the window of the airship. She was absentmindedly watching the scenery pass by while in thought. She popped her fingers and knuckles in her pensive mood.

 _"People keep leaving me left and right! Mom, Summer, Blake, but thank god for her for coming back, but now, you? What the hell!? What is UP with me and my stupid luck with the people I love leaving me!?_

 _I'm so damn mad right now — I'm seriously gonna knock some teeth out of your mouth, you gigantic idiot! You're like the older sister I never had! You're one of the coolest people I've ever met! I couldn't wait to introduce you to Dad and Zwei over the break!_

 _So what if you got bad days!? So what if you have sins in the past that you're still trying to atone for!? You said so yourself! Everyone's got it bad in one way or another! So why the hell didn't you come to your friends for help!? What the hell are we to you if not your friends!? Just students!? Strangers!?_

 _Are we really just students!? A bunch of horny teenagers who happened to wanna learn how to fight under you!?"_

"Tsk… _you goddamn idiot..!_ "

Her eyes shone a burning crimson with her hair alight in gold, reflecting the surge of wrath she could barely contain.

 _"Why did I take until now to know that you were in so much pain already...!? If only we met up with you sooner…!_

 _If only I reached out to you sooner!"_

She placed a hand on the side of the window and leaned closer, sending her glare onto the unsuspecting trees below.

On the opposite side of the airship was Team JNPR. Each one was mentally preparing for the mission in their own way while stirring in their thoughts much like Team RWBY was.

Jaune was idly twirling Crocea Mors while holding onto it like a cane. Deep inside his mind was him going over strategies that would allow them to work effectively in the forest with and without the other teams.

 _"I don't really know how Team CFVY works as a team, so I can only think of a few ways to not get in their way — I'm sure they know their way better in the Emerald Forest than any of us."_

He sent his gaze towards the second-year team, then back to his own team. Truthfully, he was a little — scratch that, _very_ — nervous. He's never worked with teams other than Team RWBY before and Team CFVY was also the best sophomore team in Beacon when it came to field operations. He eyed their leader, Coco Adel.

 _"The super charismatic and fashionable leader of Team CFVY. I only heard this from Weiss and Pyrrha but I heard that Coco can send people thrice her size flying with a slap."_

Then, to Fox Alistair.

 _"Fox is someone I'm 100% positive I know nothing about. I'm not even sure if the rumors about him are true. Something about his intuition somehow being always right. If that's true, then he's already an invaluable member of this mission."_

To Velvet Scarlatina.

 _"Who knew the faunus girl Tiella saved back at the cafeteria was standing at the top of the entire sophomore year in Combat Class? She normally looks so sweet and harmless but when it's her turn in Combat Class, she turns into one incredible fighter. It makes me think she'd be on par with Tiella in a serious match — but that's just my guess so I could be wrong. I've never seen her fight with her real weapon before, it's always wooden sparring weapons."_

And finally, Yatsuhashi Daichi.

 _"The tallest person in all of Beacon Academy. Massive in size but down to earth and very kind. What he lacks in speed, he makes up for in strength and endurance. A walking tank._

 _I can't wait to see Team CFVY in action!"_

He turned his eyes back to his weapon, Crocea Mors, and held it tight in his hand.

 _"It's going to be impossible to match a powerhouse team like that but I don't think we're going to fall that far behind them if we just focus on doing our best. Everyone in the team has made it their duty to help everyone else out in any way they can. Even I'm confident that I've improved a lot compared to the first time I came here."_

He unsheathed the base of Crocea Mors from its scabbard to send a pair of resolute eyes on its blade — its gleam hinted a reflection of his features.

 _"This is our biggest and most important mission yet. We can't fail. Failing means letting Tiella die... and we can't have that._

 _I can't have that._

 _You forgot the two things you and Professor Goodwitch taught me a few weeks ago in Combat Class._

 _Acts of heroism need not always end in self-sacrifice. There's always a better way, right? I've taken it to heart, you know?_

 _So this time, it's our turn to show you the better way. You don't need to die to defend Vale, we won't let you!"_

He fully sheathed Crocea Mors back into its scabbard before stashing it on his hip. From his right, Pyrrha waited and observed the occupants of the airship as well.

 _"Tiella is from an entirely different world — both in the literal and figurative sense. She lived a life that I can't imagine going through myself without ending up so damaged and broken. My big sister — the cool, funny, and witty self-proclaimed big sister — who would casually pat my head and treat me with such courtesy and kindness had a past that I just can't bring myself to relate to because of how dark and foreign it is to me._

 _A mercenary at a tender age? No living relatives? Forced to kill to defend and keep herself alive? I can somewhat understand the rationale behind her actions but I can't relate to it at all. Like being able to read the words of a paragraph but ending up unable to understand the meaning behind it. It's no wonder why she may sound so cynical at times, though in the end, she simply sounds sarcastic — and these days, I've found it to be one of her endearing parts."_

She found her gaze landing on the little leader of Team RWBY, Ruby Rose. She found her trying to focus on her weapon but it was clear to her that the long wait towards their destination was making her feel giddy and anxious. Seeing the girl looking so worried gave her mixed feelings as it was a terribly cute sight to behold but it also brought forth a false sense of harmlessness when she kept in mind how dangerous she was with her weapon in hand.

And then, she remembered that Ruby had also learned a few barehanded techniques that she'd used to incorporate into her style during Combat Class. It was a sign that everyone in class took as Ruby slowly losing her biggest weak point. And, again, it was all thanks to Tiella.

 _"I... I want to help her. Maybe it's because of pity, and I'm positive that she would be greatly displeased if she knew, but I want to do my best to help her — help her in any way, shape, or form that I can._

 _Pity or not — for my big sister, for my new goal — I will do my utmost."_

She eyed her hands with hardened eyes that brimmed with resolve. She clenched them tight as she let her Aura flow towards them, letting shine a black light that emitted nothing but her power and control.

 _"I will_ _ **not**_ _hold back."_

Pyrrha's uncharacteristically serious expression added more to the gravity of the situation. They knew that when Pyrrha wasn't smiling and trying to reassure everyone else, it was time to take things _very_ seriously. And it went doubly true for the rest of her teammates. Jaune's absent stare as he thought up plans and strategies turned hard as he pursed his lips. Ren was in his usual behavior, calm, cool, and collected, though internally, he was greatly concerned for Tiella and his friends.

It was Nora who was acting differently from usual.

Eyes cast to the floor, brows furrowed, lips pursed — it didn't take more than a glance to recognize the anxiety on her face. Ren held her hand tightly which caused her to look back at him thankfully. She sent him a grateful smile, though it was quickly replaced by one marred by sorrow.

"She will be fine. Tiella will hold strong until we find her."

Nora repeated Ren's words in her thoughts like a mantra. She took a deep breath and held a hand over her chest as she slowly breathed out. She flashed him another grateful smile, though this one was much closer to her usual bubbly self.

"Yeah!"

" _HO-LY- **SHIT** , girl_... you're _INSANE_."

The mumbled cuss was heard audibly in the quiet interior of the airship. Everyone searched the source and found that it was easily Coco Adel. She appeared to be watching something in her scroll with her earphones on. Velvet peeked from beside her to see what it was about. Seeing that her partner wanted to know what she was watching, Coco unplugged her earphones and amped up the volume to max for everyone to hear.

"What's that about, Co...co...? _WHAT...!?_ "

The loud voice that came from the demure girl shook everyone away from their own thoughts, inviting curiosity towards her as they all wondered what could have made the coy girl yell like so.

[I... I can't _believe_ this...]

The sound of an awestruck reporter's shaky voice alerted everyone in the airship enough that they all stood from their seats and walked closer to Coco to hear better. And though Lilly, who had been quiet after briefing everyone on the mission didn't move, she was still intently listening in from just behind the pilot's seat as she observed the forest through the windshield.

[A lone woman is _fighting_ at the center of the massive Grimm horde!]

The footage was showing a bird's eye view of the very familiar head of red twin braids fluttering in the wind.

[Just in case you didn't hear me the first time, I repeat! A LONE WOMAN IS _**FIGHTING**_ AT THE CENTER OF THE MASSIVE GRIMM HORDE!

Do we have any idea who this woman is!?

Is she brave!? Is she foolish!? Is she biting off more than she can chew!? Is this the last heroic act of a huntress before falling in an attempt to save the people from Grimm!?

Whatever the reason, it seems that she's the focus of all surrounding Grimm and is valiantly fighting back despite being alone! Which begs the question, _where is her team!?_ ]

"Her team is coming." The pilot, Velvet, and Blake heard Lilly say in a low but resolute voice. "Bardy is coming. I'm coming."

[...wait, Mike...! Watch closely! It seems that I was wrong! She's not being foolish at all! In fact, she's pushing the Grimm back! She's _pushing them back_ , I say! It's unbelievable! Since we first caught sight of her, she's never once been hit! Just who is this incredibly skilled huntress and how come we've never heard of her?! Is she some super rookie!? Is she not registered in the Vale Huntsman Guild!? We need someone to identify this superhero of a woman _ASAP_ and send reinforcements!

Speaking of reinforcements, just _WHERE_ is the Vale Military!? _Where_ are the huntsmen of Vale!? What's taking them so long!?]

" _Celeste...!_ "

Ruby called out in shock and awe. She was glad to see that Tiella was still alive and fighting like they all hoped but everyone understood it was only a matter of time until she fell unless someone came to her aid.

* * *

Lilly shut her eyes and walked to the center of the airship to sit cross-legged with her back straight. Everyone wondered what she was planning to do and Ruby was about to call out to her until she saw Lilly glowing as she meditated. She backed off knowing not to disturb her despite wanting to know what she was planning.

 _"My Aura is unlocked."_

Lilly entered the world deep inside her mind.

 _"And as a result, I feel myself growing stronger faster than even I originally thought myself capable."_

She searched her vast mind for every single piece of literature she's ever read since coming to Remnant.

 _"With the strength of the soul, gifts that should have been locked until later were forcefully opened."_

The glow surrounding her body slowly magnified in brightness.

 _"Am I capable of using these gifts?_

 _No._

 _No, I am not._

 _Not yet, at least."_

The gentle light that shined outward brought with it a healing effect that soothed and calmed the weary hearts, minds, and bodies of everyone around her.

 _"So instead, I will focus on what I **can** use."_

She remembered reading religious texts, holy scriptures, and even forbidden sacred scrolls from the library of Shade Academy. Each one pertaining to the ancient art of unlocking one's Aura through meditation that monks used to practice before it was discovered that someone with an unlocked Aura could unlock it for you.

 _"I need strength."_

She delved deep into her heart. Remembering each step of the way how Vacuan high monks of old were recorded to have been able to take their practice a step further through intensive meditation.

It was rare, even for the monks themselves, but to those that managed it, they were granted the position of Eldest to lead the rest of the monks.

 _"Strength that won't easily and heavily backfire on me like my Essentia."_

She dived deep into her soul.

 _"A power that is unique to me and me alone. Something that not even the gods could give me."_

The soothing purple light that radiated off of her receded until it was only a layer over her skin. Everyone that watched her was reminded of the irregularity that was Lillianne. Especially the first years who were in the Grand Clocktower that day when Ozpin struck a deal with Avatāra.

 _"The power of **my** soul."_

* * *

As everyone watched in confusion and awe, the sound of the reporter from Coco's scroll took some of their attention away.

[S-She slipped!]

Blake, Coco, and Velvet looked back at the scroll with eyes wide in shock and fear.

[Our huntress slipped!

Pilot! Fire at the mass! Help her! Do something!

I repeat, our lone huntress slipped! I can only guess that it was because the Goliaths appeared, stampeding over everything and for every footfall, they caused the earth to shake!

 _WHERE ARE OUR REINFORCEMENTS!?_

Just how long are they going to take!?

Hold on, what is going on with the Grimm!? They're all suddenly howling! _Just what is happ—_ ]

And suddenly, the feed was cut short.

"What?" Coco exclaimed in surprise. "What the hell!? Tiella just- and the feed was-!"

"C-Coco, let's calm down for now..."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Velvs! Tiella slipped! SHE FUCKING SLIPPED! AND SHE'S BEING-"

A resounding slap turned Coco's cheek away, her sunglasses nearly falling off. She looked back at Velvet in anger and was about to retort but paused when she saw the teary-eyed look her partner was giving her.

"I know! Okay!? I know!" Velvet said through hiccups. "I saw it too! But there's nothing we can do about it!" She grabbed Coco's shoulders in desperation. "You're our leader, so act like it! We need you now more than ever!"

Coco looked back at Velvet hanging her head as she so desperately clung to her for support. She looked back at the rest of the teams and found each and everyone in similar states of despair.

The sisters were clinging to each other as they cried, Weiss was looking back at her in shock as tears ran down her cheeks. Blake looked as if she was still trying to comprehend what had been said. Jaune was shaking his head in wide-eyed disbelief while brushing his hair back. Pyrrha had a hand to her mouth as she, too, cried. Nora was in the same state as Ruby, and Ren held her closer to him with a grim look on his features.

"That can't be..." Weiss spoke softly. "She can't be... not so easily... she..." Her breath hitched and she suddenly felt weak in the knees.

She nearly fell to the ground but she found herself barely held up by Blake for support.

"S-She just slipped, right? S-She managed to escape after that, right?" Blake pleaded for an answer. "Right...?"

"Y-Yeah!" Jaune followed up. "She just slipped, right? I-I-It's not like that means she couldn't escape or something, right!? She's really agile after all!"

Coco looked away and clicked her tongue. She shook her head as she tried to remember the feed from just before it got cut.

"No," She said, "I-I don't know, probably. The feed got cut before anything else could happen."

"T-Then there's still a chance." Blake sniffled with furrowed brows, renewing her hope. "There's still a chance she's still alive. The Tiella I know will never give up in a fight so easily."

"She's right." Yang appeared beside Blake with Ruby still clinging next to her. "Celeste may have gotten injured from it but I doubt it'll be enough to stop her. They're gonna have to do more than that if those Grimm want her dead."

"She better!" Weiss yelled while wiping her tears away with her sleeve. "She still has much to teach me, to teach all of us! And I have a lot to say to her too!"

Ruby wiped her tears away as well as she looked back at her teammates, then to Coco. "We still need to save Celeste." She looked behind her to see Lilly's reaction to everything so far and was surprised to see that she barely budged.

"Lilly?" She called out, catching everyone's attention. "Lilly, did you hear the news?"

"Rubes, I don't think we should be disturbing her right now."

"But..." She sniffled again.

"Lilly's doing or planning something and it looks like she needs all the concentration she needs. We can tell her as soon as she's done." Yang reassured while wiping Ruby's tears away with her thumb.

Ruby sniffled once more before nodding resolutely. She wiped her tears one last time before gathering her team.

"Let's go over the plan again."

As they all gathered and huddled together, the pilot called out to them.

"Uh, hey, kids?"

"Yeah?" Coco answered with an annoyed brow raised.

"The land just split open and the mountain just erupted."

"What?" Coco immediately rushed beside the pilot's seat and looked out in front of them.

Her eyes went wide as she watched the land split open and molten rocks rushed forth like fountains from springs.

Coco touched her earpiece and spoke in great urgency. "Professors! Are you seeing this!?"

[The eruption?] Port answered almost immediately. [We are, Ms. Adel!]

"What's the plan, sir?"

[Slow down our pace first, we need to build new strategies around this new development.] Glynda answered back. [The silver lining here is that the eruption just took out a good chunk of the Grimm. Where's Lilly?]

"She's..." Coco looked back at the girl in question and found that she remained unmoving. "She's meditating, preparing for something. I'm not sure but she's glowing and she hasn't budged since she started."

[Meditating? Can you call her?]

"Well, it's just that..." Coco hesitated for a bit before letting go of her earpiece. "Velvs, can you try getting Lilly's attention?"

Velvet wordlessly nodded and touched Lilly's hand to give her a little shake but as soon as her hand made contact, she felt her hand enveloped by Lilly's purple light. She instinctively pulled her hand away as she backed off a few steps.

"W-What was that?" She asked.

Coco watched and waited for any further developments but found nothing. So she clicked her earpiece again and spoke. "Negative, Professor Goodwitch. Lilly's not available right now. She's meditating but it looks like she's doing something more than just trying to relax and get her bearings before a fight. I had Velvet try to grab her attention but her hand got swallowed by Lilly's Aura — she's fine though." Coco said while eyeing Velvet and her hand.

There was silence in the comms for a few moments but after a while, Glynda spoke again.

[Very well, leave her be for now. If there's absolutely no way to get her attention then it's best for you to simply report everything to me for the time being.]

"Understood, ma'am."

Coco turned to face her group and was about to relay orders when an ear-piercing screech suddenly rang through the air and made everyone cringe and grind their teeth. She turned back to look out again and the scene in front of her could only be described as the gates of hell opening a second time.

"Fuck."

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I'm still alive!_

 _I'm sorry I took much longer than expected! This chapter is, as you've read, incredibly eventful and will obviously be an important plot point. So, you know, with me being new to writing plot-based stories, I had to write and rewrite and revise this chapter a few times throughout the month._

 _Most of the stuff I wanted to put here aren't even in here, so I guess you'll just have to wait for the next chapter for that._

 _Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you have any questions or comments or anything, do let me know!_

 _Thanks again for reading another chapter of Lost Star! I hope to see you again in the next chapter!_


	33. Chapter 33: Rising Action

"Status report!"

"An estimated amount of 10,000 Grimm have gathered at the far eastern side of the Emerald Forest!"

"Where did they come from?!"

"Move, people! Move, move, move! A Squad, B Squad, J Squad, up on the airship docks, now!"

The Vale Military was in crisis mode for the first time since the Color Wars. Everyone was on high alert, rushing to and fro their bunkers and battle stations.

"Everyone, we just got a call from the Headmaster of Beacon Academy! All hands on deck, every available huntsman is to report to the guild for a briefing! This is a Calamity level threat! I repeat, this is a Calamity level threat!"

And so was the Vale Huntsman Guild.

Policemen were in riot gear, guarding the high walls of Vale in anticipation of any stray Grimm that may come close. They all watched with mixed feelings at the sight of the full force of the kingdom's military might moving into the Emerald Forest. For one thing, it was an amazing sight and it did bring a semblance of comfort when the army was being mobilized like so. For another, it was a clear sign of the gravity of their current situation.

It made people wonder... if the current situation warranted the combined efforts of both the military and every huntsman in the kingdom, just how much danger were they in?

"General Strongarm."

"Lieutenant General Ford, report."

They exchanged salutes and as the General observed the Captain's grim expression, he couldn't help but furrow his brow in anxious anticipation of his Lieutenant's report.

"The Wyvern has awakened."

* * *

Glynda "The Good Witch of the South" Goodwitch.

Professor of Combat and pillar of morals and discipline at the ever so prestigious Beacon Academy. Naturally gifted with an abundance of Aura, a prodigy of Aura control at the tender age of 8, she became a master of Aura at the age of 21 and is the wielder of one of, if not _the_ most powerful semblance in all of Remnant — Telekinesis — and it is only limited by knowledge of the laws that control the world around her and her imagination.

She is one of the most celebrated huntresses to ever live. She'd been awarded titles, medals of honor, trophies, among many other accolades in her short decade of being a full-time huntress before being recruited by Headmaster Ozpin to become a professor and prepare the next generation for the world.

If one was to ask Beacon students why they made Beacon as their first choice in a survey, it was safe to assume that the most popular reason was because of Glynda Goodwitch. The second most popular reason would be the unorthodox way of teaching implemented by Headmaster Ozpin which appeals to a lot of the young and aspiring trainees who wish to learn more.

Her feats were heard far and wide and not a single huntsman or huntress — trainee or otherwise — have never heard of at least a single thing she's done in her life even if they've never heard of her.

She's best known for her feat of creating storms to eradicate hordes of Grimm, and because of this, some argue that she is the most powerful huntress in Remnant's long history, Ozpin included.

A human hurricane — and to a lot of people, a true living legend.

So when a great evil blotted out the sun in the sky as molten rocks flowed and swallowed the forest in a sea of flames, the pressure of the expectations of everyone around her was immense.

She spoke in a calm and collected voice through the intercoms.

"Do not panic."

But it was nothing new to her.

"Believe in your professors."

Her voice was steady and the gaze she sent out as she took in the scene was hard. She looked to her right, in the direction of Lilly's airship, then down to the ground where the Grimm were dense and took note of how just like back in Beacon, the Grimm were going nowhere near them nor were they making any attempts to come closer.

"Help is on the way."

The students that were beginning to panic listened to her voice as if it was the light at the end of the tunnel. She had to choose her words carefully. It didn't matter whether she had a suspicion about Lilly being the reason for the Grimm's inaction against them, it wouldn't make sense to her students even if it were true. She would simply cause needless confusion — and possible panic and anger — in their situation should she have done so.

"The Vale Huntsman Guild will be sending every available huntsman to the forest and the Vale Military will be there to assist as well."

She breathed steadily as she kneaded her Aura in preparation for a grand-scale use of her Semblance.

"Do not panic — panic is the enemy. Let your professors take care of this while you do your roles."

She opened the hatch, letting the strong breeze in as she stood by the door with a hand on the frame.

"Remember your training."

She let her gaze fall upon the team under her, resting a fleeting moment longer on Leon Springfield.

"I'll be back."

She stepped out of the airship and let herself freefall for a few seconds before grabbing a small piece of the earth below her as a platform for her to stand on while she levitated in the air. Her students watched with bated breath but their attention was taken when Professor Peach spoke up through the intercoms.

[Professor Goodwitch? What exactly are you doing?]

Glynda inhaled deeply, holding her breath for 3 seconds before letting it all out for just as long only to repeat the process again and again while she gathered and concentrated her Aura at the tip of her riding crop. She shut her eyes and felt her body glow. And for every breath she took, her Aura ebbed and flowed in and out — magnifying for each passing breath.

"Wow..." Ruby spoke in wonder, face illuminated by the power of her professor's soul, "that's a _lot_ of Aura..."

Glynda flung her arms out and wide and her Aura expanded outward. Her face strained as she reached her Aura out as far as she possibly could. Sweat formed and dripped down the side of her head while her grip on her riding crop nearly had her nails biting into her skin.

The forest grounds cracked like glass and the crack itself snaked around the volcano and Grimm. The ground below them shook as she waved her riding crop up, the motion imitated by the earth below. The ground spiked up and formed a thick wall. She continued the motion as she surfed from above and away as she left gigantic walls of earth that trailed behind her.

Her muscles shook as she strained to hold her riding crop. While it's true that the nature of her Semblance allowed her to manipulate objects with the power of her Aura and her mind, it was also true that the heavier an object is, the harder it would be to move it — much less the way she was manipulating the earth. She was essentially terraforming the forest to form an enclosure to keep both the Grimm and the lava in.

[E-Excuse me for not answering immediately, Professor Peach...] Glynda spoke through the intercoms and Peach could hear labored breathing. [As you can imagine..! Hn!] She watched as Glynda literally tore the earth and pulled it up to form both crevasses and walls while circling around the volcano. [...I-I may take a while to return. So, f-for now... hnngg!]

"Professor...?" Peach and the others watched in awe and worry as they followed Glynda go around and behind the volcano as the earth spiked and trailed behind her.

[I-I'm fine..! For now, please make sure that no Grimm steps out of the enclosure until I return! Until then, the three of you are to work together! Hnngg! Haaaa...! When Lilly's finish with whatever it is she's doing, report everything to her and let her take over!]

"Wha-? Excuse me, but Professor, isn't she younger than our graduates? How do you expe—"

[She is Ozpin's partner when it comes to leading missions like this! Trust me and trust her!]

The statement that such a young girl held the same authority as Ozpin out in the field shocked everyone in disbelief. Everyone that wasn't at the Grand Clocktower that day, at least.

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Coco asked softly in incredulity while doubtfully eyeing the meditating girl. She shook her head with a sigh. "No, nevermind. I can't trust her — not yet, at least — but Professor Goodwitch seems to put a great deal of it into her." She looked to Velvet as she continued. "And I trust Professor Goodwitch with my life. There's no use dilly-dallying."

"Right." Velvet nodded.

"Everyone, prepare for combat." Coco declared. "Ruby, Nora, Weiss," She called, earning a nod from each as they all stepped forward. "With me and Velvet, prepare to shoot down as much Grimm as you can from here. Velvet, just to be sure, how many long-ranged weapons do you have stocked up?"

"I have around 30 or so rifles from when we last visited Vale."

Each member of Team RWBY and JNPR was surprised as they listened, wondering how she could possibly carry such a huge number of weapons.

"Anything explosive?"

Velvet paused for a second to think with a finger to her cheek. "4 rocket launchers, 5 grenade launchers, 3 grenade belts — 10 grenades each, and a bow with 60 grenade arrows."

The looks on each first year's face were telling of how incredulous they felt as Velvet listed off her arsenal — particularly Ruby and Nora. _Especially_ Nora.

"Grenade arrows?"

Velvet smiled shyly. "I-I thought they looked cool and I wanted to try them."

Coco laughed. "You really _are_ an army of your own, Velvs. All you'll need now is a nuke and you'll be ready to take on all of that on your own."

"Y-You know that I'm only as good as I'm well prepared before a match."

"I know, that's why you're one of this ship's trump cards, Velvs." Coco grinned at her, then shot her grin towards the wide-eyed first years. "It's time to remind the school of your lesser-known nickname."

"I-I don't think they need to he—" Velvet waved her hands in front of her demurely.

"Oh, come now, Velvs. No need to be shy! You should be proud of it, even!" Coco grinned wider as she patted Velvet on the shoulder. "I'm sure you've all heard of her nickname _Battle Bunny Velvet_ ," To which she received a few nods. "but have you heard of the time she was called _THE One Woman Army?_ "

* * *

The wyvern flew hundreds of meters up in the sky. It looked down on the forest and its first instinct was to search for the one who called it forth. Its six yellow eyes searched the grounds, trying to pinpoint what it could only feel as the source of all anomalies. It did not have to search long for the thing it was looking for was giving off such an immense presence that it was quite impossible to ignore.

A human-sized figure that stood proudly among the Grimm. It found that all its fellow creatures of darkness were submitting themselves to the anomaly. It made its way to the ground, diving at great speeds — leaving great hurricanes as byproducts of the beat of its wings. Just as it was reaching the forest's floor, the anomaly swung its claw out, cleaving the land in front of it in half and killing thousands in one fell swoop.

It instinctively stopped mid-dive, flabbergasted that the evil anomaly who it thought was one of kin was actually an enemy. It stayed in the air as it judged the anomaly's movements, waiting for what it was to do afterward. However, as it was transfixed by the entity, it was left in a daze not a moment later when it felt a powerful blunt force struck it square on the side of its head. The force was so strong that it had reared its body to the side as it struggled to keep itself afloat in the air for a moment.

" _GODZILLA, YOU GOD DAMNED SONUVABITCH, WHERE THE FUCK'S TIELLA!?_ "

The thing that hit it, which it understood as a human, grabbed onto its fang and pulled it down while roaring loudly. It was surprised by the strength the mere human possessed so much that it hadn't realized that it was already spiraling down into the ground despite its attempts to beat its wings as much as it could to stay in the air.

From one of the airships on standby, a faunus student quickly recognized the human due to his superior eyesight. "It's the Raging Bull!"

Eventually, with powerful forces pulling on opposite sides, the fang broke, the human fell, and it spun the opposite way as it flew up.

"Shit—"

Said Bardel as he crashed to the ground and created another crater and killing all the Grimm who were unfortunate enough to be in his crash site. He jumped up in a heartbeat, landing on his feet with a kip-up as he trained his eyes on the giant flying beast in the air.

 _"It's a fucking dragon! Never woulda thought I'd get the chance to fight one!"_

Bardel's body was crackling with barely contained energy as he wore a wicked grin. He jumped high, leaving an even deeper hole in the ground as a trail of dust clouds was left in his quick flight towards the dragon Grimm. The Grimm, anticipating the human, spun in the air and slapped him away with its mighty tail, sending him crashing to the side of the mountain. And because it was angry with the human that broke one of its fangs, it sped towards him while charging up a massive flame in its mouth.

Down on the forest grounds, Tiella — or rather, the transformed Tiella — was killing everything in her path.

She leapt high into the air only to land on the mob of Goliaths that caused her to slip and trip. Her kick tore through the largest Goliath as if it was paper, causing another crater to form as fissures that swallowed the slow and unlucky Grimm down into its fiery depths ran far and deep. She cleaved everything in front of her apart, practically balding the forest as hundreds more Grimm simply turned to smoke before they could so much as move.

But she didn't stop there.

Grimm, trees, animals — if it so much as _breathes_ in any way, shape, or form...

" _Monster..._ "

One of the students from Peach's airship muttered in utter fear as he watched the form of the girl who they were supposed to save tear through thousands of Grimm like it was nothing, all the while looking the most monstrous in a sea of terrors.

Peach looked back at the student, unable to say or react other than stare at him and click her tongue before watching Tiella again. Seeing the person they were supposed to rescue the way she was made her hesitant.

Did they even need to be there? Were they even necessary? What is happening to Tiella? Is that really her? Why did she transform? Is this her Semblance awakened? Is it her Essentia? Are we in danger? What about the Wyvern? What about Mr. Armas? When the military and the huntsman come, how would they react to this?

So many questions and none of them were answered.

Peach bit her lower lip as she kept an eye over everything. _"Lilly, if Ozpin and Glynda's trust in you really isn't misplaced, we could really use your help right now."_

She watched as another large Goliath stomped its way towards the one who she suspected as Tiella and it was successful in trampling over her for a bit until it suddenly stopped in its motions, fell to the side, and vanished into thick black smoke while the girl herself was dusting herself off.

 _"She didn't even budge from that? I have such a bad feeling over this but I can't distract Glynda now."_

* * *

"Is this thing on?"

The girl, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found.

She was not in the lobby of the airship. She was not standing next to the pilot. She was not in the comfort room of the airship. She wasn't even on the roof of the airship.

One way or another, while everyone was distracted by the Wyvern, Bardel, and Tiella, she'd slipped out of the airship.

She was fiddling with a camera she found lying around in the forest. It was broken and battered. To every person in the world, they would all unanimously agree that the camera was busted beyond repair. Luckily for the camera, the girl was unlike every person nor was she from this world.

The camera lit up after a few seconds. "Of course it is, I'm the one who fixed it! Alright, time to get started!"

She looked behind her and found the crash site of a helicopter. And off to the side on a fallen log rested three people — an eagle faunus female and two human males. All of them were unconscious but the sound of roaring fire, screeching dragon, hovering airships, and the Lilly talking roused the eagle faunus up.

"Perfect, you're up!" Lilly said as she walked to the woman.

Disconcerted and slightly distraught, she warily looked around and kept a wary eye on the approaching girl as she backed away — only to fall to the other side of the log she was just lying down on. She shut her eyes and braced herself for her fall but suddenly felt an arm catch her. She meekly opened her eyes and she was immediately assaulted by a sight for sore eyes. An angel with glossy black hair, perfect white teeth peeking between the most beautiful smile, and the softest pair of bright purple eyes that one could mistake them for gemstones.

She was straight. She definitely was. For as long as she could remember, she'd always been attracted to boys.

"Are you okay?"

But this girl...

She felt a little something inside her tighten up as blood rushed to color her cheeks like roses.

It made her question things about herself.

 _"Am I actually gay? I'm not really in a relationship right now and this girl is making me question things. Oh my gosh, my heart is beating so fast. Am I gay? No, am I bi?"_

She felt a gentle hand on her cheek.

"Do you remember your name, ma'am?"

And it just made her feel even hotter.

"I-..." She stuttered. "I-I'm..."

 _"I'M GAY."_

"Oh dear, you're heating up. A fever?" She smiled worriedly. "Would you like to rest? I'm sorry but there are only logs here and we're surrounded by Grimm on all sides."

"What!?" She immediately scrambled to sit upright and take in her surroundings.

True to her word, they _were_ surrounded by Grimm on all sides and the sight of it caused her to start panicking. Though, before she could get worse...

"It's okay, I'll protect you. I'm a huntress."

...she was pulled into a warm and protective embrace.

She felt her heart calm almost immediately as the soothing presence of the girl did its magic. She instinctively held on to the girl, slowly wrapping her arms around her as she lost herself in her pristine presence — like falling asleep in a sanctuary. She felt the girl pull away from the hug, though her hands were still holding her shoulders.

"Can you tell me your name?" She smiled.

"I-It's..." Stunned, she took a moment to remember. "It's Iris. Iris Aguila."

"Iris," She repeated as her eyes glowed dimly. "What a beautiful name."

"T-Thank you." Her eyes fluttered as she looked elsewhere to avoid the huntress's mesmerizing eyes. "What about you?"

Lilly smiled. "It's Aliciel Lillianne Le Fiora de La Vernillion but you may simply call me Lilly."

"Lilly," repeated by the mesmerized girl, committing the name to memory.

Lilly smiled graciously as she pulled themselves up to stand. "Now, I know you're still a little distraught, Iris,"

 _"She remembered my name!"_

"But I need you to do a little something for me."

"O-Okay."

"Great!" Lilly beamed. "I need someone to work the camera while I kill the Grimm. Make sure it captures me and everything around me. I need you to broadcast it all over the kingdom."

Iris took a direct hit to her heart from Lilly's beaming smile and it was super effective. It took her a few seconds to gather her thoughts again and register everything Lilly said to her.

"W-Wait, what? You want me to broadcast you live to the kingdom?"

"Yes." She nodded with a grin. She leaned her head forward and held a finger up as if to prove a point while giving Iris a wink and a smile. "It'll be Super Idol Huntress Lilly's debut to the world! And what better stage to sing and dance at than a forest infested by thousands of Grimm?"

Iris paused in wonder at the girl's sanity. Though, before she could make a decision, Lilly already handed her the camera and was fixing her hair.

"I just need you to follow me." She pointed at the girl. And as if she just remembered something, she pulled out her smartphone (which was an unknown device to Iris) and handed it over to her. "By the way, I need you to do this and this and this on my signal, okay?"

After being told to remember instructions that she was told in quick succession, she had the smartphone close to the camera's microphone as she aimed it at Lilly.

"Ready?"

"Y-Yes!"

Lilly snapped her fingers at her, pointing finger guns and smiled wide.

* * *

[Welcome one, welcome all!]

"What is that?" Coco checked her scroll due to a sudden pop-up notification and Lilly's voice in the intercoms.

[Today you are watching the largest gathering of Grimm since the Great War 80 years ago! Truly, this is a historical moment and truly, there can be no better stage!]

"Lilly?" Velvet muttered as she checked her scroll as well, watching the live feed while simultaneously listening to Lilly speak in her earpiece.

"Wait, when did she disappear?" Yang asked as she looked around and the first thing she noticed was the dismantled lock of the airship's door.

 _"Did she go out? And did she really have to dismantle the lock?"_

The others checked on their scrolls again to see what caught their attention.

[Before I begin, I want the people above to listen carefully! Please keep your eyes in the sky and the ground, watch over Kevin,] She winked at the camera. [follow your leaders' instructions, and no matter what happens, do _NOT_ get in the way of Bardel! Let me handle helping him, okay? Okay!]

 _"Mr. Armas is here? What is going on? What is Lilly trying to achieve?"_ Glynda thought as she flew around the volcano while pulling up the ground to complete the cage she was building.

 _"Who the hell is this girl?"_ was the question on everyone's minds.

While it's true that to the people she came to the forest with, it was easy to understand what she meant as her orders for them but to the rest of the world that was watching the live broadcast, she was simply adding even more confusion to her presence and intentions then and there.

Also; stage? What stage? The forest infested with thousands upon thousands of Grimm was a stage to her?

Was she making light of the situation?

Was she another fool?

Who the hell was this girl and why was she appearing on national television via the news?

[Now then, let's begin!] She walked around with arms wide open in a welcoming manner.

It was a truly odd scene. An unknown girl suddenly appeared on national television in what could be considered the greatest crisis the kingdom has ever faced and she was acting like she was on a variety show or a concert. Despite the fact that you could see nothing but the black hides of Grimm among the trees, despite the unbelievable scene that the Grimm were doing _absolutely nothing_ to her — and if one were to observe closely, one would see that the closest Grimm were acting as if they were pointedly trying to avoid her — and despite the fact that watching the charming girl felt so unbelievably surreal, no one could take their eyes off her.

They were all captivated.

[For my opening act,] She sent the camera a wink and a smile, positive that she just captured the hearts of thousands with her natural charm, charisma, and beauty, [a song just for you!]

The statement left the world flabbergasted.

A singing act in the middle of all those Grimm? Was she truly treating the entire situation as some debut concert?

[My apologies if the sound quality turns out poor, this was more of a last-minute decision.] She smiled wryly while scratching her cheek.

Preposterous.

A bluff, surely. An admirable attempt at trying to keep face in the face of an untold crisis.

But...

She coughed into her hand as if to dispell the awkward tension she set for herself. [The song is called,] She held a hand close to her heart while stretching another out as if to grasp the audience's hand. [ _Looking Up_ ]

...there was something about the way she smiled about the entire situation.

Endearing? Definitely.

Charming? Unquestionably.

Confusing? _ABSOLUTELY!_

And there was something else. Something they couldn't rightly explain.

Lilly gracefully twirled in place and pointed at the camera. [ _Are you readyyyyy?!_ ]

And suddenly, there was the sound of an electric guitar resounding that was quickly followed by an upbeat tempo of the drums and a second rhythm of an electric guitar.

Lilly held her sword in reverse grip — using the end of the hilt as her mic. **「** _Things are looking up, oh finally!_ **」**

She took a few steps to the side while waving her finger up and down as the beat went. **「** _I thought I'd never see the day,_ **」** She paused in her steps and beamed at the camera, **「** _when you smile at me,_ **」** she smiled and winked while shaking her head to wave her long hair with a flourish.

 **「** _We always pull through, oh when we try,_ **」** She walked the other way, her steps in sync with the beat of the song. **「** _I'm always wrong but you're never right,_ **」** She jumped and landed on bent knees, then suddenly sprung up with her feet apart and a finger pointed at the camera. **「** _Oh, you're never right!_ **」**

As the world watched and listened, confused but captivated, the Grimm grew impatient. The live feed showed that a few of the Beowolves were crawling towards her with a snarl as she clapped her hands and swayed to the melody that played.

"Lilly, watch out!" Velvet exclaimed as she watched.

 **「** _Honestly!_ **」** Lilly ducked as she shook her shoulders to the beat of the upbeat song, dodging the lunging Beowolf with grace and ease. **「** _Can you believe?_ **」** She swiftly swung her sword upwards, slicing the Beowolf in half like butter. **「** _We crossed the world,_ **」** She straightened her back and spun in place, slicing the other two Beowolves that lunged after. **「** _while it's asleep!_ **」**

"Holy crap, that's so _badass!_ " Yang said in awe as she couldn't help the smile on her face from spreading.

More Grimm soon followed, angered that their kin would so easily fall to the _repulsive_ girl.

 **「** _I'd never trade it in,_ **」** Lilly backward somersaulted over a rolling Boarbatusk only to land on top of it. She quickly balanced atop, hastily walking backward to match the speed of the Grimm's roll. **「** _'cause I've always wanted this!_ **」** She spun while keeping her balance over the speedily rolling Grimm, slashing at any Grimm brave enough to come near while slapping others away with her round shield. **「** _And it's not a dream anymore! No~!_ **」**

"What in the world...?" Weiss couldn't help but mutter. _"How is she singing and dancing so captivatingly while... while killing Grimm!?"_

Lilly jumped off the Boarbatusk with a twirl, dodging two Beowolves and kicking the Boarbatusk into a tree at the same time. She landed on the ground and flourished her long hair. **「** _It's not a dream anymore,_ **」** She thrust her sword at the open maw of an Ursa and slashed it vertically. **「** _It's worth fighting for!_ **」**

She held her sword and shield at the ready as an Alpha Beowolf came charging for her. When it was only but a step and a claw away from mauling her, she spun on her heels — simultaneously slashing and smashing her sword and shield as she spun low to the ground to a knee. She quickly stood upright as the Alpha vanished to nothingness, waving her sword as if to get rid of whatever Grimm blood or ichor was on it before it disappeared as well.

She took a few alternating side-to-side steps as she clapped her hands and bounced her shoulders alternately. **「** _Could have given up so easily,_ **」** She ducked under another lunging Beowolf and spun to slash it in the middle before it could pass over her. **「** _I was a few cheap shots away,_ **」** She tap rocked her way backward, dodging another rolling Boarbatusk and a charging Ursa, which ended with them colliding into each other. **「** _from the end of me._ **」**

A large Creeper charged with its head ready to ram into her but she simply blocked it with her shield. **「** _Taken for granted,_ **」** She slid her shield a little lower, then, using the momentum of the Creeper, vaulted it over her head, **「** _almost everything,_ **」** crashing into a bunch of assorted fodder Grimm behind her, **「** _that I would have died for,_ **」** She spun on one leg and roundhouse kicked an Ursa Major, blowing its head off into blackened smithereens, **「** _just yesterday._ **」**

She posed a proud stance with her sword and her shield held to her sides. **「** _Just yesterday~_ **」**

She held her shield up and back, winding up for a powerful throw. The muscles in her body sprung, appearing prominent even from afar. She threw her shield and it ricocheted from Grimm to Grimm — either decapitating it for a kill or incapacitating it due to the incredible power behind it. And as her shield bounced, she spun with her hands wide as she looked up at the sky.

 **「** _Honestly, can you believe? We crossed the world while it's asleep!_ **」**

Her shield ricocheted off the head of an Ursa and bounced back to her, so she hit it away with her sword, adding force into it so the shield could ricochet a little longer while she danced in the middle uninterrupted.

 **「** _I'd never trade it in, 'cause I've always wanted this. And~_ **」**

Rosetta — her shield — returned to her once again, so she swatted it away, decapitating a Creep and bounced away when it hit and cracked the claw of a Deathstalker.

 **「** _It's not a dream anymore! No~_ **」**

She spun and kicked, spun and kicked, and spun and kicked her shield, playing ping pong with her shield — keeping the Grimm at a distance as she ostentatiously and grandiosely danced her all.

 **「** _It's not a dream anymore!_ **」**

She jumped and drop kicked the edge of Rosetta hard, going through the hardened armor of the Deathstalker until it crashed and embedded itself into a tree after going through a few more.

 **「** _It's worth fighting for~!_ **」**

She dropped to the forest's floor on her back but she quickly stood back up with a kip-up. She tapped her foot as she "strummed" her "guitar ( _sword_ )" while most of the Grimm around her dissipated into nothingness.

Pyrrha watched stunned at the sheer level of skill and technique at handling a thrown shield. She performed the same thing with ease as well, though in her case, it was with the big help of her Polarity. And if she remembered correctly, Lilly had no such Semblance.

 _"Meaning, this is pure skill..."_

 **「** _God knows the world doesn't need another band, woah-oh-oh-oh, woah-oh-oh-oh~!_ **」**

She banged her head as she "played" the "guitar" until another brave Beowolf lunged at her. She used the hilt of her sword, Marius, to knock its head up and put it in a daze. She quickly struck her palm at its midsection then grabbed its arm while placing her other hand on its waist. She then proceeded to waltz and sway around with the Beowolf.

 **「** _But what a waste it would've been, woah-oh-oh-oh, woah-oh-oh-oh~!_ **」**

The Beowolf struggled, but her grip was insane and it nearly broke its wrist. After struggling a bit more, she spun on her heels while holding onto both claws — hitting every other brave Grimm that came too close. After gaining enough momentum, she let go, letting the Beowolf crash and dissipate along with a few others unlucky enough to get hit.

 **「** _I can't believe we almost hung it up!_ **」** She ended her spin by taking a knee with her arms spread aloft. **「** _Woah-oh-oh-oh,_ **」** She bounced her shoulders to the beat a few more times while slowly pulling her arms closer to her chest. **「** _Woah-oh-oh-oh~!_ **」**

 **「** _We're just getting started!_ **」** She backflipped when she sensed a Creep attempting to ram her from behind, landing on its head and burying it into the ground as if it was some ostrich. **「** _Woah-oh-oh-oh~!_ **」** A King Taijitu's white head tried to eat her, but she simply jumped over it and used its head as a platform. **「** _Woah-oh-oh-hoooh~!_ **」** She playfully kicked her feet out as she danced and then violently kicked away the black head that tried to eat her after the white head failed.

She jumped and spun in the air with her sword drawn out and extended. Using the momentum of her spin, she aimed her slash at the middle of the giant Grimm snake's body and cleanly cut it in half.

 **「** _Honestly, can you believe? We crossed the world while it's asleep!_ **」**

She sang coolly as she walked through the black smoke of the vanishing Grimm as if it was mere fog.

 **「** _I'd never trade it in, 'cause I've always wanted this._ **」**

Her body glowed purple as she stretched her arms wide open in a welcoming manner.

 **「** _And, it's not a dream anymore!_ **」**

She danced the steps on her way towards the camera while wearing the most energetic smile.

 **「** _No, it's not a dream anymore!_ **」**

And she was simply clapping her hands in sync with her song.

 **「** _No~! It's not a dream anymore!_ **」**

Like the brightest star within the encroaching darkness of the night.

 **「** _No, it's not a dream anymore!_ **」**

She strummed her "guitar" energetically.

 **「** _It's worth fighting for~_ **」**

She did one final clap that resounded powerfully as her eyes glowed brightly, and for a second, she disappeared, leaving nothing but the Grimm that surrounded Iris on all sides. She panicked, understandably, but suddenly, Lilly reappeared in the same place as if nothing happened.

 **「** _I can't believe we almost hung it up! Woah-oh-oh-oh, woah-oh-oh-oh~!_ **」**

She pointed a finger gun at the camera paired with a smile and a wink, then acted as if she'd just pulled the trigger. And right on cue, the surrounding blackness all but turned to smoke and nothingness.

 **「** _We're just getting started! Woah-oh-oh-oh!_ **」**

The world was stunned once more when they could not figure out how and why all the Grimm died and disappeared. But despite their incredulity, the girl carried on with her singing and dancing as she slowly approached the camera.

No one even noticed that she'd already retrieved her shield.

 **「** _I can't believe we almost hung it up! Woah-oh-oh-oh, woah-oh-oh-oh~!_ **」**

She used the end of her hilt as her "mic" again as she held Marius in reverse grip while she banged her head rhythmically — her hair whipping along her motions as she followed the beat.

 **「** _We're just getting started! We're just getting started~!_ **」**

She breathed deeply as she calmed her energetic heart and nerves, though the smile on her face never disappeared — a true indication of how she'd just had the time of her life.

"Thank you, Vale! This was Super Idol Huntress Lilly's debut!" She waved with both hands before bowing. She tilted her head and put a finger on her cheek in thought. "Or would Super Rockstar Huntress Lillianne be better? What do you think?" She asked the camera with a bright smile. "Let me know your thoughts next time you see me, okay? You can even give me tell me if you have a better name in mind!" She gave the camera a wink, smile, and a flying kiss. "See you!"

She placed a finger on her earpiece and spoke in that ever-present smile of hers. "Yang? Blake? Can I ask you two to come and fetch Iris and her companions? I know I don't have a scroll yet but I'm sure you can easily find my location."

True enough, she _was_ quite easy to find.

From the airship the Beacon students were on, she was quite easy to spot due to the distinct absence of Grimm at a certain part of the forest below. Yang and Blake looked out the door (that was carefully, easily, and quietly dismantled by Lilly).

"Lilly!" Yang immediately answered. "Why did you have to sneak out like that?"

[I thought it'd be funny!]

"F-.."

 _"FUNNY!?"_

"You thought that was funny!?" Coco yelled through the intercoms, uncaring that she was heard by everyone involved with the mission. "You think this situation is a joke!? What in the world are you thinking?! Why would you even do that!? Who thinks slipping out like that only to sing and dance in the middle of a godforsaken Grimm infested forest is okay when you're supposed to be leading a group on a mission!?"

"I can't even..." Blake tiredly rubbed her face while sighing the words out. "Why did I even worry? She's Tiella's teammate."

Weiss, too, reacted much the same. "So this is what Tiella meant when she said she was worse than Yang and her combined..."

"Why didn't you invite me!? We could've danced down there together! We would've been awesome!"

Everyone looked at Nora as if she just grew two heads. The girl in question, meanwhile, only shrugged her shoulders in response.

"What?"

[Pfft... ahahaha!]

"What's so funny!?" Coco fumed in indignation.

[Oh, don't worry Coco!]

"You might be the leader placed in charge of my group but you don't get to tell me-"

[So, how are you feeling?]

"H-How am I feeling!? I feel like strangling you!"

[Good, good, and the rest?]

"The rest..?" Coco pinched the bridge of her nose and looked around the airship.

[Has everyone relaxed and calmed down?]

"What?"

Coco, baffled, looked around the airship a second time and found the surprised expressions on each person's face. She couldn't help but let out a voiceless chuckle at the sight.

"Are you trying to say that you did all that just to get rid of our jitters?"

[I have also been wanting to sing and dance for a while, but yes. What better way, right? Three birds, one stone!]

"Three?"

[Hehe.]

Coco raised a brow at Lilly's giggle and before she could ask about it, Velvet interjected.

"Do you mean the people of Vale?"

[Velvet, yes?]

"That's right."

[It's nice to talk with you, Velvet.]

"I-It's nice to be talking with you too," Velvet replied — her bunny ears gingerly shook.

[And you're right!]

Lilly looked back at the camera then went past it and onto the woman holding it, Iris.

"Everyone in Vale is worried and anxious over this and that's only natural." Lilly looked up at the airship with that easy smile of hers. "But you see, if I can make it so that they won't have to, then I will. If I can make them feel at ease despite everything, then it's a performance I'm willing to do over and over."

The intercoms were silent for a moment as everyone digested Lilly's words. It was true, before the random song and dance number, each and every student — not just the citizens of Vale — felt varying levels of uneasiness and anxiety. Even some of the professors weren't 100% confident that they would all come out alive after the mission.

But after Lilly's singing and dancing — especially the climax when she practically erased every single Grimm in her vicinity — they felt most of the tension fade away from them. What Lilly did, did not only serve as a way to distract them from their anxieties, it was also the perfect opportunity that she wasn't just doing it to have merry and reckless fun in a dangerous situation.

She showed everyone in the world that she could help — and that the help she could give was invaluable to the crisis. It was a message to the world.

I'm here, I'm strong, and I will save you.

After a short while, Ruby spoke through the intercoms.

[Thanks, Lilly! You were really cool out there!]

"You're welcome, Ruby! Now get Yang and Blake here, I need them to pick three people up and deliver them to safety."

* * *

"She's a natural."

"Hmm? Who?"

"Lilly."

Yang and Blake were down the forest and making their way towards Lilly. Despite the gravity of the situation, they couldn't help but feel that their current objective to retrieve Iris and her companions were nothing more than a cakewalk. The atmosphere between them was leisurely at best

On their way, Yang couldn't help but talk about what Lilly just did for them — for _all_ of them, for all of Vale.

"In one song, she managed to take everyone's anxieties away. That's pretty incredible."

"She is."

"She isn't even an actual huntress and she managed to do way better than every other huntsman I've seen work! Like, who does that? Who the hell looks at this entire situation, thinks for, like, 5 minutes or something, then decide, "Hey, killing all these Grimm will surely calm the people down but you know what'll be better? Entertain them while doing it!" like it's the most natural thing in the world!"

"Yang, when you put it that way..." Blake smiled wryly. "It's true, though. What she did was much more effective at calming the nerves and anxieties of everyone who watched her performance. Even I forgot about how dangerous the situation was. And, what's even more amazing is it made me think that we may not be in that bad a situation after all. Bad, still, yes, but perhaps it isn't the end of Vale."

"And what she did near the end when her eyes glowed and she disappeared for a second or something?"

"Only for the surrounding Grimm in her vicinity to turn to smoke and dust as soon as she reappears."

"Right!?" Yang threw her hands out in disbelief. "How!? That's way too badass!"

"There's such a thing as _too badass_ for _the_ Yang Xiao Long?" Blake teased.

"Uh, yeah?" She gave Blake a look and a raised brow. She raised one hand at chest level. "Celeste." Then raised her other hand above her head. "Lilly."

Blake looked at her blankly and Yang took it as a sign of confusion.

"This is how badass they are when compared." Yang shook each hand to emphasize her point. "See? Celeste is really badass but she's still in the normal range of badass. But Lilly's just over the top! She didn't just take away everyone's anxieties — _she gave all of us confidence too!_ "

They reached the edge of a clearing and the first thing Blake noticed was Lilly singing once again. Her ears twitched under her bow and she was quickly soothed by the melody of her singing. She could practically _feel_ the smile in Lilly's voice as she listened.

"Yang, I think we're close," Blake said in an easy smile.

Yang looked out in search of Lilly and what she found was a thrashed helicopter, two men sleeping on top of logs, and Lilly ballroom dancing and snapping her fingers with her other hand on her waist while singing in front of a woman.

" _When marimba rhythms start to play~  
_ _Dance with me, make me sway~_ "

"Hey, Lilly, we're— whoah!" Yang greeted as she approached but she was immediately taken into the arms of Lilly, unable to do anything as she was pulled along to dance with as Lilly sang.

" _Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore~  
_ _Hold me close, sway me more~_ "

Lilly made sure never to break eye contact with Yang as she swayed her along. Her attempt to sing in a low and sultry voice gave rise to heat on not just Yang's cheeks but also Blake's and Iris'. She winked at Yang as she licked and bit her lip. She knew full well the kind of effect her charm has on other people and she was not afraid to show or make use of it.

" _Like a flower bending in the breeze~!  
_ _Be~nd with me~!_ "

She brought Yang along with her, ballroom dancing in the middle of a forest. To the people observing, it was quite surreal. The only music was her voice, yet it was enough for them to imagine high ceilings with grand chandeliers.

" _Swa~y with ease~!_ "

"L-Lilly, wai-"

Yang tried to talk her way out of her current predicament but before she could finish, Lilly spun her around.

" _When we dance you have a way with me~  
_ _Stay with me, sway me sway~_ "

Then, pulled her close.

" _When marimbas start to pla~y!  
_ _Hold me close, make me swa~y~!  
_ _Like an ocean hugs the sho~re~!  
_ _Hold me close, sway me mo~re~!_ "

And it was her turn to spin for Yang and return with Yang's arms somehow wrapped around her as she was held from behind. Lilly swayed her hips, almost as if she was grinding against Yang and it just turned Yang's face redder than it already was.

" _Like a flower bending in the breeze~_

Lilly spun out of Yang's arms and held both of her arms as they swayed. She then pulled Yang close, spun her out, then pulled her into her arms.

 _"Be~nd with me, swa~y with ease~!_ "

Yang went another round with Lilly in the clearing, swaying to the rhythm Lilly took her with.

" _When we dance you have a way with me~  
_ _Stay with me, sway with me~!_ "

She finished the dance with her leaning over Yang as they were nearly parallel to the ground — Yang blushing and gasping heavily, unable to form anything coherent to say. Yang didn't notice, but her other leg was raised as well. Such was the magic of Lilly's touch and voice — of her presence.

It wasn't until Blake coughed into her hand while hiding both a blush and a churning in her stomach did Lilly and Yang turn to look away from each other's eyes.

"Ahahaha..." Lilly laughed dryly as she scratched the back of her head. She noticed the look Blake was giving her, or rather, the emotion Blake was hiding underneath the passive look she was giving Lilly. "Sorry, Blake. You can have Yang back."

"I-I don't know what you're—"

"I'll teach you that dance too if you like. You can dance with Yang next time."

Blake looked away abashed. "I-I'm not particularly good or fond of dancing, so I'm fine."

"Well," Lilly smiled apologetically, "the offer still until you accept it any time."

"Bravo!"

The three girls looked towards Iris and she was simply applauding after the show Lilly charitably showed her. It certainly helped improve her mood.

"Alright, now please escort Iris and her companions," Lilly said before touching her earpiece and spoke while looking up. "Professors, proceed with the plan. Spread out evenly and stay at least 600 meters away from Tielle. Once you're in formation, don't wait, rain down on the Grimm as much as you can. Wipe them out before other Grimm could arrive. Don't worry about Tielle — I'll let you know if it's safe to go down or not."

She looked in the direction where black smoke rose. The screech of a mighty beast and blasts that echoed along with it was her next priority.

"The rising action is over." She gave Blake and Yang a look and a nod before running to where she believed Tiella was. "It's time we reach the climax so we can put this story to an end."

* * *

"General! The forest just lost an estimated 1000 Grimm in the duration of that girl's live broadcast! And we're still losing them by the hundreds! Grimm count is now at an estimated 5000!"

"Someone I.D. that girl right now! We need to know who she is! Where she's from, what her name is, come on, people!"

 _"At the rate this is going, it's possible the Grimm would be nearly wiped out by the time we get there but... who's wiping them out that quickly? The girl only showed up just now but the Grimm have been dropping off like flies left and right since the actual live broadcast got cut off some time ago. Should we be worried?"_

Just as there are good things to come out of Lilly's live broadcast, there came the not so welcome parts as well. With her live, she practically announced her existence to the world and to any other person, that normally wouldn't be so bad. But she wasn't a normal person in every sense of the word. She was a super-genius, she was a charmer, her charisma was off the charts, she was the greatest thing to ever be born of humanity. And there came the problem.

She wasn't of _their_ humanity.

She was from another's.

Questions arose.

Who is she? Where did she come from? How is she able to do that? How come no one even knew of this person before the live broadcast if she was so amazing? Surely there'd been news of her even through simple word of mouth.

The world was slowly getting to know of people that shouldn't have ever been known in the first place. Even more so than the fabled Maidens, as some would say.

And while unbeknownst to the world, there were others that were of the same caliber who existed amongst them, hidden in plain view — and it was only a matter of time until the world knew of Avatāra.

* * *

"FUCK OFF!"

Bardel punched closed the jaws of the Wyvern when it attempted to swallow him along with a small chunk of the land he was standing on. He'd been wrestling with it for a few minutes and it didn't look like either of them were ready to go down just yet.

 _"God damn it, this fucking thing keeps coming at it! I just wanna find that fucking bitch, goddamnit!"_

"DON'T MAKE ME BLAST YOU INTO PIECES, ASSHOLE!"

And as if in response, the Wyvern roared back at him while staying afloat just a few meters in the air.

"FINE!"

Bardel ran to it with the intent to leap on like before, though before he could jump, he saw the skies raining down the most assorted bullets he'd seen in his life. There were all kinds of rounds, even grenades, and some elemental blasts too. It was as colorful as it was deadly and destructive. The cacophony was reminiscent of war and it was enough of a distraction for both him and the Wyvern.

They both looked at their surroundings, wondering where the heavy rain was coming from. Bardel then took the moment as an opportunity to run directly beneath the Wyvern and shot himself up into its stomach. It screeched in pain, feeling the tough scales and hide on its belly break. Some of its scales tore through its hide and made it bleed. He grabbed onto one of the protruding scales and kept bashing his fist but he was forced to back off and jump away when its blood got onto him.

He felt an intense burning sensation where the Wyvern's blood dripped on him and it made him clench his teeth and breathe deep in pain. He tried getting the blood off his arm and was successful for the most part but the damage left behind was akin to 3rd-degree burns.

"What the fuck...?" He muttered.

He looked back at the Wyvern and watched as the wound he gave it dripped pools of blood into the forest's floor. And from the puddle of blood came out the claws and maws of newborn Grimm.

"Fuckin' hell..." He clicked his tongue. _"This fucker's blood summons more Grimm? How do I fucking kill it then?"_ He glared at the offending titanic beast and clicked his tongue. "Shit."

He gripped his forearm and clenched his fist as he watched more and more Grimm pulling themselves out of the pool of blood. He could think of nothing to stop it, much to his chagrin. Hitting the Wyvern until it died was obviously going to be a bad idea if it'll just end up bleeding and touching its blood was going to leave him with 3rd-degree burns. He was, after a long while, in another situation where he could not punch his way out of.

 _"Sure wish Lilly was here. She'd think of something."_

* * *

"Sniper Squad One, keep firing! We're slowly dwindling down their numbers! Good work! They're too dumbfounded and scattered to react especially when we're this high up! Sniper Squad Two, focus on shooting down the flying Grimm! Vanguards, protect the snipers from the flying Grimm!"

Port barked his orders through the intercoms while he shot down the ones that managed to come too close for comfort alongside Oobleck. Peach assessed the situation and relayed information from all sides. She was no fighter but she knew how to manage information well.

"Airship Four, Nevermores and Gryphons to your right! Airship One, there are dozens of Grimm directly underneath your airship and are escaping your fire!"

"Got it!" Coco from Airship 1 nodded as she rushed out of the airship.

As jumped out, she swung to the other side of the airship and threw out another hook for Yatsuhashi to catch and secure to a wall on the inside of the airship. Her orientation led her to be suspended in mid-air, held and secured by two harnesses on either side and it let her stand on the belly of the airship upside down. From there, she rained down a hail of bullets courtesy of Gianduja, her minigun. It took her no longer than 10 seconds to decimate the Grimm beneath them so she took the chance to fire on all else that were trying to go below them as well.

"Fox, while I'm here, you're in charge of the vanguard."

"Copy that."

Before they rained down on the Grimm, they were being ignored. However, when the figure on the ground who they assumed to be Tiella started killing them again, the Grimm panicked and scattered and were attacking her once more. Afterward, they received Lilly's order and fired at the Grimm after getting into formation.

It was then that the Grimm finally took notice of their presence.

"Artillery Squads One, Two, and Three, focus on spots where there are higher concentration of Grimm! Artillery Squad Four, keep aiming for the massive flying Grimm! There are still hundreds of Giant Nevermores and Gryphons in the sky!"

"What about the Wyvern!?" Barked one of the senior years.

"Let Ms. Lillianne and Mr. Armas handle it! That is a calamity-level Grimm and we don't want it on our tails!" Peach responded in vigor, the tension of battle getting to her. "Thankfully, Mr. Armas can go toe-to-toe with such a Grimm."

"With all due respect, Professor Peach but how can you be so sure!?"

"We've seen him in action before. And..."

Peach looked out the window and saw that the titanic flying Grimm was still preoccupied.

"...isn't that proof enough?"

The student looked out as well and he looked just in time to see the flying Grimm have its jaws forcefully closed shut while it was sent flying back. It got angry, so it bellowed and roared.

"This _Mr. Armas_..."

"Yes?"

"Is he the Raging Bull that exploded the garden courtyard in front of the cafeteria?"

"The one and only."

For a moment, he was silent, simply nodding his head in his attempt to acknowledge the absurd. "Remind us never to piss him off, ma'am."

Peach smiled wryly. "You and me both."

Back at Airship One, Velvet stood atop its roof alongside Ruby, Nora, and Weiss.

Weiss acted as an enchanter, supporting both Ruby and Nora by adding either a bit more firepower to their guns or some form of utility like making Nora's grenades home in on the nearby Grimm. And when she's not enchanting her current teammates' arsenal, she was throwing out fireballs and icicles with Myrtenaster.

Velvet, on the other hand, needed no such thing. She was pulling out all sorts of guns left and right. One moment, she was shooting down Nevermores with an assault rifle, the next, she was blasting them out of the sky with rocket launchers.

 _"She truly IS a One Woman Army. I feel that she could take on more than just one team if she was in a no-holds-barred fight."_

Weiss thought as she stole glances at the current ranked one second-year of Beacon.

 _"Her forms are perfect, her aim is true. I've never seen her miss — she even shot down the ones that were flying at blinding speeds. Even Ruby takes her time to aim at them! But in her case, it's as if shooting is as easy as breathing. She's so incredible that she's like a completely different person from the girl that needed saving in the cafeteria that day."_

She eyed her bunny girl senior a bit more.

 _"I wonder where she's ranked in Beacon overall? It wouldn't be too hard to believe that she's in the top ten."_

She shook her head and refocused her sights on the battle in front of her. She noticed that a few small Nevermores — five newborns, she guessed — got past her teammates' assault. So she took it upon herself to wipe them out.

She rose Myrtenaster and swung in an arc from below, summoning her glyphs along the way. And the glyphs she summoned, fired icicles in an arc that trailed her sword. She was successful in killing most of them, however, one of them managed to dodge by a hair's breadth. It charged in, swooping towards her so she braced herself with a protective glyph in front of her but before it could come any closer, it was quickly killed by a dagger made of light that disappeared along with the Nevermore.

She blinked a few and looked between the slowly vanishing black smoke and Velvet. The girl was so focused on the battle that she wasn't even looking at her. She simply kept firing and firing for as long as there were Grimm.

Meanwhile, inside the airship, the Vanguards were simply on stand-by. Everyone had their weapons ready and they were all keeping a careful eye out on the situation. Blake, Yang, and Ren were looking out the open doors while Yatsuhashi and Jaune were looking out through the windows. Pyrrha, for her part, was keeping Iris company.

"You're Pyrrha Nikos."

"Y-Yes, I am."

Pyrrha saw the admiration in Iris' sharp eagle-like eyes and it was a good reminder of how and why she preferred the people of Beacon Academy were.

"I-" Iris coughed into her hand and straightened her sitting posture. She noticed the stiff expression on the champion, so she held back on acting a little excited. "Sorry, I'm a fan but don't worry, I'm sure you've had enough of the rabid ones already." She smiled.

"Well..." Pyrrha smiled, and it was a mixture of appreciation and wry. "It is their support that brought me much opportunities to explore more of the world for myself. I am by no means exaggerating when I say that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you and all of my supporters."

 _"I certainly would not have wanted to escape Mistral had my friends and family not raise me to such a pedestal."_

"It's really humbling to know that the Invincible Girl is such a humble person. But, I guess you'd rather not talk about yourself?"

"It is fine," Pyrrha smiled graciously. "I'd be happy to answer your questions as much as I can."

Iris' eyes widened and sparkled a bit. She definitely looked eager to Pyrrha and so she braced herself for a few more questions of the... personal/private nature.

"Then, if you wouldn't mind." What she got instead, however... "Would you tell me more about the girl who saved me?"

Pyrrha tilted her head curiously. She mentally sighed in relief that their topic wouldn't be about her, and so she readily answered to the best of her abilities.

 _"I should be wary of my answers. She may be a reporter for the primetime news that focuses on Grimm attacks, but she could still report about Lilly and the rest. It would be bad if people started looking into them more."_

"Do you mean Lilly?"

"Yes, Lilly! What can you tell me about her? Is she a student? Is she a professional huntress already? Where is she from? From what I heard below, it seems that she was the one in command?"

"Well..." She paused in thought, sending glances at her teammates before answering. "I suppose it would be good to start with those I can answer," She said, earning a nod from the woman. "No, she's not a student. She's a huntress but I don't believe she's part of any guild. And yes, she is the one in command of the mission. And if I remember correctly, she works freelance with two others — one huntress and one huntsman."

"I see! So she takes contracts?"

"Perhaps? I'm not quite sure, I'm sorry." She smiled apologetically.

"It's fine! Can you tell me more about her team?"

"Gladly. The huntress is Tiella, she is the huntress you were reporting about just before we arrived."

"You mean she's the brave heroine that faced that horde alone!?"

"Indeed."

"I see! And the other person?"

"A huntsman. His name is Bardel and he's currently keeping the Wyvern preoccupied."

"The Wy- the what!? Excuse me, the what!?"

"O-Oh!" Iris' surprise caught her a little off guard and it caught the attention of the others too. "Y-Yes, the Wyvern. I'm sorry, I thought you saw it already."

"No, our chopper crashed before we could see it. We don't even know what hit us." Iris furrowed her brows in deep contemplation as she tried to remember the events that lead to her crash landing. Unluckily for her, she couldn't.

Pyrrha, noticing her distress, took her attention back with a gracious smile. "It is true that it is an incredibly dangerous Grimm — as all calamity-level Grimm are — as such, we normally would not even be allowed to go near it, but with them around, I believe we can take care of them."

"T-They're that powerful?"

"I believe so."

"How come we've never heard of such a team? I'm sure that even as a freelance group, rumors and reports about them should at least come out here and there on the internet."

Pyrrha paused to consider her next words carefully. She worried that she would be feeding the woman more reasons to look into them if she answered truthfully but she also couldn't find a believable lie on the spot. After a moment, an idea clicked.

"Perhaps it's because a crisis of such a level had never appeared before for them to take care of? I remember Tiella mentioning that they primarily take contracts in the outskirts of the four kingdoms, taking Grimm contracts from outlier villages and the like."

"I see, so they work more in the area of the badlands?"

"They've mentioned taking up considerably more work in those areas than within the kingdoms' walls, yes." Pyrrha smiled gratefully, glad that Iris took her words with little to no suspicion. "It is why they can fight well even against the more powerful Grimm variants like the Goliaths, Alpha Gryphons, Geists, and Alpha Beringels."

"I see, I see." Iris nodded with a hand on her chin. "However, I do remember that the brave heroine from earlier — Tiella, was it?"

"Yes."

"Yes, I remember her slipping and..."

"She's alive."

Iris was caught off guard by the conviction in the champion's answer that it made her blink at her a few. Her eyes brimmed with a silent flame that almost seemed desperate. Even the rest of the people in the airship gave Pyrrha looks and appreciative smiles that Iris noticed.

"Tiella is one of the most skilled huntresses I've ever met. She's strong, not only physically, but also mentally, and emotionally. She will survive."

"I see." Iris nodded with a smile. She played with her fingers while in thought, looking at them as she stirred in her mind. "Would you mind telling me about her?"

"Gladly." Pyrrha smiled. It was her turn to look at her fingers as she intertwined them on her lap. "Her name is Celestiella V. Margory," Her smile grew wider and wider as she spoke every word, "and she's my self-proclaimed big sister," She said as her soft viridescent eyes met sharp auburn-like eyes.

* * *

 **Fodder.**

 **Mites.**

 **Ticks.**

 **Fleas.**

 **Nothing but pests.**

 **And yet they nearly killed my Chosen.**

She, or... he? It? Whatever this be-

 **Does it matter?**

I-... what?

 **I am crushing the skull of one of your so-called creatures of Grimm with one hand and barely am I even using any strength, not to mention my severely weakened state while I am only possessing and gifting my daughter a tiny fraction of my power. Humans always were weak but to think that even in another world where they are given such powerful gifts to their advantage, they still cannot wipe them out. How laughable.**

T-The being appears to be holding the skull of a-

 **Do you not feel that it is redundant to describe what I am doing when I've already done so? What I hold in my hand is a Grimm, its variant is irrelevant, all that you need to know is that it is weak. All Grimm are weak. And yet the humans are still held back by them.**

...

 **You are wondering how I am speaking with you.**

...

 **It matters not if I am speaking to you or to my daughter. Not even if I am speaking to your readers. Everything will die, along with everything else in my path for that is what I live for.**

...

 **You'd do well to commit my words to memory, poet. I pledge to kill all who live under the same sky as the great me. None shall live, I will not permit it.**

 **But worry not.**

 **I shall spare you.**

 **After all, you are my maker — and this is how you wrote me.**

 **Now, go on. You have a story tell, haven't you?**

* * *

Lillianne arrived at a clearing, or rather, a cleared-out field in a sea of trees and Grimm.

Stumps of wood were the only things left aside from fallen logs and gouged out earth. There were barely any Grimm left. The only things to see were a girl with blackened skin and ashen white hair and a Beringel trapped in her grip as it struggled.

The girl was looking up and simply basked in the sunlight.

It was serene.

The moment picturesque.

And yet it simply drove immense dread inside her as she looked on.

"Tielle?" She called out but quickly shook her head. "No, you're the one we met months ago, right? The one we couldn't shake off. How?"

The girl turned her head to give Lillianne a look.

She did not smile, she did not frown. She only had a blank look as she met eyes with her.

Lillianne sheathed her sword behind her and placed her shield there as well. She walked towards the girl with a steady gait.

"You won't answer then? That's fine, I only have one request anyway, and it doesn't need your verbal acknowledgment."

She stood face to face with the girl who was a head taller than her. She looked up with the smile that almost never disappeared, though one look at her eyes showed that she was anything but happy to see the person she was speaking with.

"Won't you return Tielle to me? I promise I'll take good care of her this time," She said as she reached out a hand for the other girl to shake.

The girl, in response, did nothing but look back at the girl. She idly crushed the head of the Grimm in her hold and there was nothing but the sound of war all around them for the next few moments as they stared each other dead in the eyes.

The girl slowly raised her hand to reach the one that was offered. However, when there was barely any distance left for them to touch, Lillianne struck her across the cheek. Her fist was smoking from the sheer speed and so did the girl's turned cheek. The force was enough to make her take a step back — a feat that not even the giant Goliaths could do against her.

"Your eyes are full of malice," Lilly said as she glared back at the girl. "Tielle may not be the kindest person but she would _never_ look at someone with such evil intent!" Gone was the smile on her face and there in its place was a snarl that bared her fangs. "You've already marred her figure with this transformation and now you insult her by projecting your cold eyes onto her too!"

The girl, who'd kept nothing but a blank expression on her features finally had a smile on. She looked back at Lillianne glowering at her and said nothing.

"This is your last chance, return Tielle to me or face the consequences of your transgressions on _my_ best friend!"

The girl struck her fist out for Lillianne's head, parting the earth and trees in its way. However, Lillianne simply tilted her head to the side and countered with an uppercut that she couldn't even react to.

"You may have saved Tielle from the Grimm but now she needs saving from you! You and I both know that possession takes more out of the owner's vessel than the possessor! So if you truly care about Tielle, then you'll leave her body _now!_ "

Lillianne struck again, a palm strike to the girl's chest that pushed her back a few paces. Her feet dug into the ground and helped stop her in her tracks but the force behind the strike was enough to make her pause for a moment and gather her bearings.

"I won't say it again."

Lillianne marched towards her in great strides though, before she could strike again, she felt winded. Her eyes widened in the realization of the phenomenon she was experiencing.

 _"She knows how to use Tielle's Hollowing!?"_

She clicked her tongue in frustration and her eyes and body turned brightly aglow. She gathered her Aura into her fists, condensing them thickly that it was enough to illuminate their vicinity. In a second, she was a meter away from the girl, the next, she'd dealt over a thousand strikes at her before she sent the girl flying dozens of meters up and away.

 _"I must finish this as soon as I can!"_

She soon followed, running as fast as she could to catch up before her enemy could crash land. Calculating the trajectory of the girl in her mind, she stopped at a certain point and entered a stance as she waited for the girl to come to her. After a moment, there appeared the girl she sent flying, so she spun on her heel and high kicked her directly on her temple. She crashed to the side, gouging the land as she skipped and rolled away.

"Tielle! Wake up! I know you can hear me!"

Lillianne rushed her again even before the girl could stop in her crash landing.

 _"It's good that using The One Almighty always leaves me with a permanent boost in speed but against the one possessing Tielle, even with advanced Aura enhancement techniques, my fists deal nothing! It's like I'm punching pure steel! I need Bardy with me!"_

"Tielle! I'm sorry I did you wrong but please, come back to your senses! This isn't you! You're not the type to let something like this stop you! Tielle!

Tielle!"

* * *

Glynda struggled to breathe.

Her body strained yet her mind felt worse.

It took a lot of effort just to keep herself afloat in the air on her platform as she returned to Airship Two, the airship she was leading. It was even worse when she brought the land up along with her to finish the wall.

 _"But it's just a little bit further... just a bit more and I should be able to keep most of the lava and the Grimm in."_

It was quite grand, what she did.

Tall walls made of the land caged the magma and the Grimm from going over the other side. A truly magnificent sight.

She reshaped the land in a way that no other huntsman or huntress could. In the years to come, should the landscaping she did remain, it would be a sight to behold for the next generation.

"Professor Goodwitch is returning!" One of Leon's teammates called out.

Their pilot opened the door for Glynda, and the first thing she did was hold on to the door frame to prevent herself from collapsing onto the floor due to fatigue. As she gasped for air and steadied her breath, she eyed Leon with a look and spoke in a commanding tone that left no room for anything else.

"Sitrep." She said, practically gasping the word out.

Leon stood in front of her and delivered the events as clearly and concisely as he could. Meanwhile, Glynda caught her breath as she rested on a bench. As soon as Leon's report was over, she stood and looked out the window.

"It's good that Ms. Lillianne took over when I could not, but that performance..." She let out an exasperated sigh. "Nevermind. I can't argue with the results."

She took in the situation a bit more and what she found was a mixture of comforting and troubling. It was good that less than half the Grimm were left, but that left the Wyvern and Tiella still unaccounted for. They're still unsure where Tiella truly is. Peach reported of an unknown figure fighting the Grimm below but some students believe that it was Tiella herself.

While the unknown figure didn't resemble a normal human, it did wear the signature loose twin braids that she was well-known for.

And knowing that fact made her feel as if her stomach sinking.

She bit her nail in frustration. She couldn't decide whether to step out again or lead from the airship like the other professors were doing. After a moment's deliberation, she clicked on her earpiece.

"Lilly, are you there?"

It was quiet for a bit with only the sound of battle as their background noise. It wasn't after a couple of seconds did Lilly answer.

[Sorry, Glynda, I'm a little preoccupied right now. I only have a short moment to speak with you.]

"That's what I'm worried about, can you tell me about your situation?"

[Well...]

Glynda stayed quiet, the pit in her stomach feeling worse as the seconds ticked by.

[I'm sorry... I can't do this on my own, I need your help.]

"That's a given, it's why we're all here." She answered in curiosity. "What do you need help with?"

[I can't say it clearly. Can you take Airship One and Bardy to me?]

Glynda contemplated Lilly's words. The gears in her mind worked to connect her words with their current situation, debating in her mind whether to follow the girl's request or not.

"I'll go."

[Thank you.]

"But until I'm sure of the situation, the first-year teams will stay behind."

[Very well. I must go now. I ask that you hurry, Bardy is fighting the Wyvern alone and I'm positive he needs help in dealing with it. I'm sure he can kill it but...]

"But the Wyvern is a special kind of Grimm, I know of its unique abilities."

[Then please hurry, after that, come to me. You should be able to find me easily.]

"Okay."

Glynda dropped the call and assessed the situation.

 _"She can't tell me what it is she's dealing with. It means something's happened to Tiella that the student body shouldn't know about. And she's proceeding with the plan to bring in familiar faces to help calm her down. What's going on? Did something out of our expectations happen? What is this report about a monstrous figure that resembles Tiella?_

 _Why can't I get rid of this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach?"_

"Mr. Springfield."

"Ma'am."

"I apologize but I must ask you to stand in for me for now. Again, report to Professor Peach should you need any help. I have to go down, Ms. Lillianne needs assistance."

Leon nodded silently and was already commanding his team. Glynda had the door opened once more so that she could step out. And as soon as she did, what she found below immediately reminded her of Lilly's words from earlier.

"[You should be able to find me easily] is quite the understatement," Glynda muttered as she summoned another platform for her to get to Airship One.

As an Aura master, Glynda is quite adept at sensing fluctuations in another's Aura. The moment she stepped out of the airship, she was assaulted — or rather, enveloped — by a pervasive warmth that both felt soothing and stifling.

"When you're letting such a massive amount of Aura like that, you're impossible to miss."

To her trained eyes, the forest below was engulfed in a purple glow that clashed with a deep blackness.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Happy New Year!_

 _I wanted to upload before the year ended so I squeezed my head as much as I could just so I could finish in time. How do you like this chapter? Was it worth the wait?_

 _I hope so, but if not, I'd be happy to read your comments on this one!_

 _By the by, Lilly is a Disney Princess confirmed._

 _Before I forget, a HUGE thank you to friend and fellow author here at FFN, ArthurSG for giving **Lost Star** a shout out in his fic " **A Silent Connection** "._

 _It's a lovely story about Jaune and Neo that takes place in V7. It explores how each character copes with the loss of their loved ones and I feel that ArthurSG is doing it nicely._

 _Go ahead and give it a read!_

 _From now on, I will be answering reviews here regardless of whether the reviewer is anonymous or not. I think that it would be a good way to keep our conversation going if we include the others into your queries, no?_

 _Now then!_

 _ **Zeowolf9** : Thank you. I'm quite glad that you enjoyed the previous chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one just as much._

 _ **Darkmaster10000000** : Cinder starts being active in V2 and because I'm such a slow writer, we've yet to reach even the start of it. But don't worry, even if the current story is still just around here, I already have some ideas of what to do in V2 and I just hope you'll like that too._

 _ **FireFlux** : Thanks! I just love it when our beloved characters go through ups and downs together. It's the perfect way to strengthen their bonds so long as they make the right decisions towards staying together._

 _ **nukacolafission** : I'm glad you liked the beginning of the story! I'm quite proud of the first two chapters. As for tequila coffee... well. I can't remember clearly but I think I tried something similar before and I felt like throwing my dinner out. Still, it was super effective in conking me out._

 _That's it for now! It's been an amazing year for me and I truly enjoyed my time writing these stories not only for me, but for all of you as well. Thank you so much! I wouldn't have improved so much if it weren't for all of you._

* * *

 _"That's...!"_

On a far off continent, amongst the people living in the cold winds of Solitas. In a cozy flat settled at the top floor of one of the many skyscrapers in Atlas, a woman, wearing glasses and a lab coat, drank coffee as she watched the news. She adjusted her black round-rimmed glasses as her eyes widened. She took a deep puff of her cigarette before crushing it on an ashtray putting it out. She took out her scroll in a hurry and dialed as fast as she could.

As the other end simply rang, she impatiently bounced her leg while drinking her coffee. A short moment later, there was an answer.

[Ms. Maxwell?]

" _Ironwood!_ "

[Sigh...] She heard from the other end. [I understand that you have no obligations to me but please do remember that I'm risking a lot to keep you around, so I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from calling with your personal sc—]

"Nevermind that! Have you seen the news!?"

There was a pause for a bit though it felt like hours to Maxwell until it was broken again. [Is it about Vale?]

" _Yes!_ " She slammed her — _thankfully_ — almost-finished cup of coffee on the table beside her where it spilled, but not so much, as she leaned back on her chair. "Did you see the girl that just sang and danced!?"

[Yes, the situation may have improved with her appearance but we still don't know the reason for this sudden attack. For all we know, this could simply be a byproduct of more nefarious—]

" _WE NEED TO GET TO VALE NOW!_ "

[Excuse me?]

"RIGHT NOW," She yelled while holding her scroll between her shoulder and neck. "I'm already packing up! We need to go! If you can't go, then I'll go alone!"

There was another sigh that came out followed by another pause. [Ms. Maxwell, you know full well I can't let you go on your own. Specialist Schnee and I will come with you. I've been meaning to come to Vale for the Vytal F—]

"GOOD! I'LL BE COMING TO ATLAS ACADEMY AS SOON AS I'M DONE PACKING! IF I GET THERE AND I DON'T SEE AN AIRSHIP PREPARED, YOU'RE GETTING YOUR ASS KICKED AGAIN!"

And before the general could answer, she'd already ended the call and threw her phone over her shoulder, landing on her bed.

 _"I finally found her! After a fucking month! A WHOLE GODDAMNED MONTH! I finally found her! And if she's here, then surely the others are...!"_


	34. Chapter 34: The Gift of Woe

The sound of blasts resonated everywhere. The smell of dust, gunpowder, and ichor permeated through the air. The stench of ash rising from the burnt trees by the river of flames and molten rock. The screech of a mighty beast echoed.

A scene from hell.

Grimm fought against man and man fought against Grimm. It was just like the stories veterans — soldiers or huntsmen by profession — would tell their grandchildren.

And through tenacity, resourcefulness, wisdom, and strength, mankind pushed the Grimm scourge back.

"We're thinning them down!"

"Good! How many are left?"

"A little under 3000, sir!"

"Isn't it about time we retrieved Tiella?"

"We still haven't got the order from Ms. Lilly!"

However, if the Grimm were _that_ easy to defeat, Humanity would've won a long, long time ago.

"Airship 3! Watch out beneath you!" Peach yelled through the intercoms.

Airship Three shook and a bone-white spear tore through from beneath them.

"What the hell!? Is this from a Gri-"

Before the surprise was fully uttered, a guttural roar came louder and louder, and the airship shook once more. In moments, a Beowolf ripped through the metal underside of the airship until it got halfway in.

"W-Wha!? Is that a Beowolf?!" One 3rd year exclaimed as he jumped back and readied his weapon.

Indeed, it was a Beowolf. But what made it different from the others — even from the Alphas — was that it was vastly larger. Its spikes appeared sharper, its bone mask looked slightly different, its claws were longer razor-sharp, and it appeared leaner, lither, more agile.

Oobleck looked back, seeing the strange Beowolf with his own eyes from behind the pilot.

"Students! Move away and fire! That's an _Elder!_ A City-level Grimm! Abandon ship!"

 _"That's the Lycan! The named Grimm from the far northeastern side of the continent! How!?"_

Just as the students were about to heed their professor's warning, the Elder Beowolf thrashed in place, destroying the floor of the airship that kept him from slicing everything inside it to ribbons. It bellowed greatly, pushing itself up and out until its spikes effortlessly tore through the airship's ceiling. It faced the students and eyed them with an intelligence that was never present even among Alphas.

Then, in a heartbeat, it swiped its mighty claws.

The nearest students held their weapons up to guard, but its swing was fast and large despite its size. Most were thrown to the walls, others fell outside, the truly unlucky ones had their weapons split in half from the sheer speed and sharpness of its attack. It even cleaved through one wall, almost enough that the airship would tear open.

The damage it did in the short time it was on the airship had it slowly spiraling down to the ground.

"H-How…?"

It crouched low, ready to pounce, and pounce it did on the pilot that was in the middle of taking off his seatbelt. Just as it neared, with barely any distance between the pilot's neck and the tip of its longest claw,

"Students! Brace yourselves!"

Oobleck stood between them and blasted a roaring flame in its open jaws the full force of his weapon, Antiquity's Roast. His attack blew off the roof of the spiraling airship as it summoned an inferno.

The other professors watched as Airship Three crashed to the ground.

Peach yelled, "Professor Oobleck! Professor Oobleck! Status Report!" The worry in her voice was palpable even through their communications device.

She waited with bit lips and bated breath, the seconds that ticked by felt like minutes to her and she failed to notice that her airship was the next one to be attacked.

A black fist, protected by ashen-white bone armor by the knuckles blasted a hole through the side of the airship, letting the howling winds in. The Grimm rampaged its way in, breaking everything with mighty thrashes of its arms.

"It's a Beringel! Shoot it down!" One 4th year yelled as she locked on and pulled the trigger of her weapon.

It was crouched as it came in, so in the heat of the moment, no one noticed, but as soon as it stood tall, all understood that it was no mere Beringel. Everyone else followed suit and sprayed it with ranged attacks, however, it simply shrugged everything off like the bullets were mere pebbles.

It was nearly twice as tall as the average Beringel. Its chest was protected by alabaster bone armor. Its shoulders, too, by pauldrons made of hardened bones. And instead of a skull-like mask, it wore a skull-like helmet with horns that protectively covered most of its head.

It roared as it raised both clenched fists in the air, destroying the ceiling with nary an effort nor clue, and smashed them down. The attack split the airship in half and it didn't even have the chance to spiral down like Airship Three — it simply broke in two and crashed.

One of the fourth years took Peach in her arms as they both braced for impact.

"Professor Peach!" Port shouted as he watched in horror the airship that spiraled and the other that split.

 _"We've taken out most of the weak Grimm so the stronger ones have begun popping up! I should've expected it but with everything that has happened so far, I'm ashamed to admit that I've forgotten! Damn it! That's two City-level Grimm already!"_

Port caught something below them and quickly recognized it as the black maw of an Elder King Taijitu, a _third_ City-level Grimm. He hastily barked orders to brace themselves as he did so himself. Though, before the gigantic serpentine Grimm could come close, its head was hit by explosions from the side, throwing it off.

A student yelled as she looked out the window. The elation in her voice was enough to express the smile on her face even without having seen it.

"Sir! It's the Military and the Huntsman Guild!"

Fighter jets boomed through the sky as they flew over the earthen wall and fired missiles, killing hundreds of Grimm both in the air and on land.

 _"About time."_

When Port looked out the window and up at the sky, he couldn't be thankful enough, he felt.

* * *

Bardel leaped high with a roar.

His body of steel crackled with energy. Heat radiated off of his person, almost enough to distort the air surrounding him.

His punch sent ripples of shockwaves that devastated the area — like a bomb that detonated in mid-air.

The explosive fist sent the Wyvern's flight derailing. The blast ruptured its organs, causing the mighty beast to spit blood from its mouth and bleed through its eyes and ears.

Splashes of black Grimm ichor puddled the forest's floor — some landing on the magma that flowed — and from there, more Grimm were born to raise hell.

When Bardel landed, he was met by Grimm younglings with their teeth prepared to rip and tear. Only, his steel body was much too hard for the younglings that their jaws broke instead.

Ignoring the mindless destruction incarnates, he plowed through them with great haste, towards the flying dragon with another roar.

He cared not that his footfalls caused the ground to break and shake. He cared not when he stomped on puddles of the Wyvern's black blood, burning his skin through and through that his muscle fibers were beginning to peek from within.

His vision turned red, unbearable rage burning inside him.

There was only one thing in his mind. Only one thing that kept him going — one _burning_ desire that fueled his heart, body, mind, and soul with nigh-unstoppable strength.

" _ **COME OOOOOOOOOONN!**_ " He roared as he leapt straight into the Wyvern's mouth, fist ready to meet its mighty fangs.

It was to tear the Wyvern apart with his bare hands.

As his leap brought him closer, the Wyvern roared with a fiery breath. The flames pushed him back to the ground in a crater. And as it summoned hell's conflagration, the forest burned ever brighter.

* * *

Airship One along with Glynda Goodwitch watched as Bardel was pushed back by the Wyvern's roaring flame. They could not help but let out their surprise when they saw the river of flames turn into a sea.

" _Bardy!_ " Ruby shrieked. She turned to her professor with anxious, teary eyes. "We have to help him!"

Glynda, without a word, took action with tightly clenched teeth. She summoned her Aura to her once more, though she took her time to channel her energy unlike before.

She was gathering plasma balls in the air just outside the airship, much like the one she summoned to completely erase the Giant Nevermore that foolishly went charging for the Grand Clocktower that fateful day. However, as she gathered the air and superheated it with her Glyphs, a change in the flames happened.

The breath of hellfire split in the middle and the Wyvern's head was forcibly knocked up and back, abruptly halting the dragon's flames. Another roar took their attention from the Grimm, and it was there, in the distance, did they see the burning figure of one Bardel Juno Armas.

"He's still alive!" Yang yelled with a point of her finger.

He, in all his burning glorious wrath, took the maws of the beast with both hands.

He, numb from rage and shock, eyes seethed with undying flames from within, felt something inside him break.

He, barely conscious of his actions, took the Wyvern's jaws apart with a monstrous roar.

Driven by mad instinct and a primal urge to satiate his rage, Bardel pushed the boundaries of Iron Will further than he ever had. His body, burnt from the Wyvern's flames, radiated such heat through the sheer amount of energy he generated inside him that he glowed a blinding orange — reminiscent of the Sun in all its burning, blinding glory.

The Wyvern fought to shut his jaws and gnaw at the human that dared to wound it so, but it found itself in a losing battle. However, as they fought to overpower each other, the Wyvern managed to push Bardel back enough that the tips of its fangs were piercing his steel-like body.

Bardel took a step back as he struggled and roared, then, in an instant took a deep breath...

" _ **HOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!**_ "

...and split the Wyvern.

Right.

Down.

The middle.

The sound of thick dragonhide, scales, muscles, bones, and organs being ripped apart reverberated thunderously. It was sickening, disgusting, and just downright unpleasant to the eyes and ears that even Glynda fought to keep her eyes on Bardel and not throw up.

Bardel was panting heavily after crushing the fangs in each of his grips. He fell to his knees and almost would have caught himself had his body obeyed him one last time before his face met the burnt sullied, Grimm Blood-soaked soil he stood upon.

And as he laid on the ground, body burnt to extremes all over, the blood of the Wyvern seeped and flowed. It surrounded him and it was only a matter of moments until his body was swallowed by the puddle that birthed Grimm.

 _ ***Thud***_

A fist pounded on the ground.

Bardel fought to keep himself awake through sheer willpower alone. He'd love nothing more than to use Iron Will again — to get himself out of the mixed sea of flames, molten rock, and Grimm blood that birthed more Grimm — but he simply could not. He was simply too drained and dried out.

"I gotta go..." He muttered as he propped himself on a knee. "...gotta go look for Tiella."

Tired eyes scanned his surroundings and looked for a way out. He could already see Grimm clawing their way up and out of the puddles of blood by the dozens.

It would have been _so_ easy to simply leap away.

It would have been _so_ easy.

He struggled to stand and almost fell again had he not caught himself with his footing, though the price for that was a burnt foot thanks to the Wyvern's blood. His only silver lining was that he could not feel anything anymore.

He kept glancing at his surroundings, looking for a way out that he could take despite the blood puddling at his feet already and some of the Grimm already clawing at his flesh. Before he knew it, however, he was covered in gentle purple light and was hovering away.

"Wha…?" He muttered dumbfoundedly.

And just the fact that he was out of his predicament was enough for him to finally let himself go, and so when he arrived at the Airship, he was already unconscious.

* * *

 _"His body is burnt so much that I barely recognize him."_

Glynda thought as she let Bardel float in the middle of the airship. She dared not let his unprotected body touch anything further.

 _"First aid can only do so much. And he could die."_

She barked orders at the sophomores to bring the first aid kit.

"Ms. Scarlatina," Her voice stern, "administer first aid. Do it quickly. He has no Aura and he could die at any moment now."

 _"I don't care how much Lilly and Tiella say that he's sturdy, wounds like these could instantly kill any man, even_ _ **with**_ _Aura. I can only pray that he lives through it."_

She fought to urge to bite her lower lip as her sharp eyes scanned the airship. They were all silent and staring either wide-eyed at him or looking at something else entirely. She noted that everyone, even Team CFVY, was trying not to look at Bardel and hurl. The paleness in their complexions said all that she needed. Their additional passenger, the newscaster, was on the verge of throwing up and was doing her absolute best to not look and calm herself down.

As Velvet, assisted by Yatsuhashi, administered first aid, Glynda stood close and gently held Bardel's hand into her own. The action perplexed the others as the treatment wasn't even halfway through yet, and they never saw anything between them that would suggest such intimacy, but the moment Glynda's Aura glowed as she shut her eyes in concentration told them all they needed to know.

" _For it is through deeds of Valor shall we reach Eternity._

 _Through this, we become a Paragon of Bravery and Hope to rise above the ashes time and again._

 _With your Will unbending and your Heart unbreaking, I release your Soul,_

 _and by my Light, guide thee._ "

Glynda's Aura slowly dimmed away in contrast to the luminescent orange that covered Bardel, though the strength of its shine waned just as soon as it appeared. Through Glynda's trained eyes, however, she could still see that his Aura was doing its job of resuscitating him. With that done, she took a seat before she could stumble and fall to take a moment and catch her breath.

"One of you," Glynda spoke. "Anyone with a large Aura pool, transfuse some of your Aura into Mr. Armas. His Aura is very weak due to his condition, so he still has one foot in the grave."

"I'll do it." Yang volunteered, already taking steps towards Bardel. "I'm confident that my Aura's pretty big."

As Yang approached Bardel, Glynda eyed her keenly to see for herself whether her student's statement was true or that she was simply overestimating herself. One look was enough for her to nod in acknowledgment. Her Aura pool _was_ far larger compared to the rest of her teammates, even to Weiss, who relied the most on her Semblance for a variety of situations.

 _"I've spent much of my Aura today but the battle isn't over yet. Lilly still needs me and the rest — and I still have a duty to protect these children."_

"Wait!"

All eyes turned to see who spoke.

"I think that I have a larger Aura pool, professor. A-At least, Pyrrha thinks so."

Glynda looked at Jaune dubiously. She knew the boy was quick to aid others but she also knew that he wasn't quite up to task much like his teammates. Still, he _had_ been improving much of late.

"Are you sure, Mr. Arc?" She asked with a raised brow. "Not only do you need a large Aura pool but you also need knowledge of how to do the transfusion."

Jaune faltered slightly under the sharp eyes of the Deputy Headmistress but he immediately steeled his resolve. He straightened his back and met her with a hard gaze.

"Please, let me! I'm sure I can do it! No, I have to do it!"

He was already making his way to Bardel with a steady gait. And even before Glynda could respond again, he already had his hands wrapped around Bardel's while his white Aura glowed.

"I'm not as good as my friends when it comes to fighting and killing Grimm yet so please let me do this." The frantic look in his eyes as he desperately tried to save a life told Glynda what she needed to know.

While it's true that someone else with better Aura control would have a much better chance at saving Bardel, it was also true that there was something in Jaune Arc that wouldn't let anything happen to his friends and would die trying to save them when given the chance. While she would not condone self-sacrifice, it was good to let her students grow at any given opportunity, however,it's another thing when it came with the risk of losing the life you're trying to save in the first place.

She weighed her options in her mind and let out a sigh. The mere fact that Jaune Arc was being proactive despite the gaze she sent him was enough to tell her that he wouldn't budge even if she removed him from the scene — also, she couldn't say she hated seeing someone trying to aid others, she just wished they had the proper skill set to do so.

"Someone aid Mr. Arc in the transfusion and be ready to replace him should he fail," Glynda sternly spoke and before she could continue, someone had already volunteered.

"I'll do it," Ren said with a raised hand.

Glynda gave Ren a look before nodding with a huff. "Very well."

Any other day and she would have easily shot them down but she was too exhausted to try. And their hearts were in the right place, so she could never say she wouldn't be proud of her students for the attempt.

She watched with a sharp eye how Ren guided Jaune in his attempt to transfuse Aura. It was true, what Jaune said. He did have a lot of it — significantly larger than Yang's. All was going well so far and Bardel's weakened Aura was slowly being revitalized, though it was still too weak to put him in the clear. With no proper medical tools, they could only bet on Bardel's Aura and the Aura transfusion to keep him alive.

Without notice, Jaune's Aura visibly glowed stronger as time passed until it enveloped Bardel. Even to the others who weren't as skilled as Glynda at sensing Aura, it looked as if Bardel was healing faster than before. His burnt skin healed slowly — mending bit by bit. Scar tissues formed moments later and a few minutes more after, Bardel's breathing had eased and stabilized.

"Jaune, t-that's amazing..." Pyrrha both hands to her mouth in awe at her partner's ability to bolster another's Aura. "How did you do that?"

"I..." Jaune paused as he looked back at her, confusedly trying to find the right words. "I don't really get it either, I just focused on doing what Ren told me to do." He looked back at Bardel with eyes that were in disbelief as well. "I just didn't want Tiella to lose another person important to her."

Nora gasped. "Maybe it's your Semblance!" She said, earning smiles from her friends.

"Mr. Arc," Glynda called before Jaune could respond to Nora. "How do you feel? Strange? Weak? Do you feel exhausted? Sleepy?"

Jaune blinked back at Glynda a few as he digested her barrage of questions for him but quickly shook himself to answer. "No, nothing at all, ma'am." He focused back on transfusing more of his Aura to Bardel to speed up his recovery. "I feel fine, really. I don't feel any different at all."

Glynda nodded noncommittally. _"Perhaps it IS the boy's Semblance. If so, a recovery-type Aura is just what we need in a place like this. This and his skill in leadership and strategy-making makes him an even more invaluable asset to the development of Team JNPR."_ She almost let a small smile on her face as she relaxed back into her seat. _"Good for you Mr. Arc, perhaps this is just the boon you need to pick after yourself more."_

She noticed the small worry on Jaune's face as he kept looking at her, then remembered that she just asked him a lot of questions in quick succession without much explanation. She coughed into her hand and adjusted her glasses.

"That's good, Mr. Arc. I was worried that you were giving more than your body can give out with how fast you revitalized Mr. Bardel's Aura. It seems to me that you have a gift for this. It is good that you volunteered — you just saved someone's life from the brink, Mr. Arc." She smiled at him approvingly. "Be proud."

Jaune's heart swelled with pride at his professor's words. She was normally difficult to please, so receiving praise from her of all people was already an achievement on its own. "Thank you, Ms. Goodwitch."

Feeling as though it wouldn't do good to let his guard down after a small victory, he focused on Bardel again with the help of Ren.

Meanwhile, the rest of the students gave their professor the breathing space she needed to rest, though they were antsy as they waited for further orders. Aside from the sniper squad, most of them have been on stand-by. Noting their anxiousness, Glynda tried to stand but her knees buckled from fatigue, so she simply fell back on her seat. Immediately, Ruby was by her side.

"Miss Goodwitch?"

Glynda looked back at the youngest student in Beacon's history. She could see the genuine worry in her eyes, whether it was for her, for Bardel, or because of the entire situation as a whole, she couldn't say, but it was enough to steel herself once again. She was their teacher, she was their leader — and more importantly, they were her responsibility — so it wouldn't do any good to show weakness when they needed strength the most.

"It's fine, Miss Rose. I'm fine." She sighed while adjusting her glasses. "I simply feel fatigued after using up so much Aura. I'll be fine after a short break."

Ruby looked at her worriedly for a moment but her face lit up and she turned back to fetch something from her backpack. A second later, as she returned, the wry smiles of her friends and teammates got her eyebrow to rise a little. When she returned to her, she almost couldn't help the same wry smile from appearing on her features. Almost.

With outstretched hands, Ruby offered her a small bag of cookies. Glynda sighed in good nature, then took the cookies graciously. "Thank you, Miss Rose."

"It's nothing, Miss Goodwitch!" Ruby beamed. "Cookies always give me the energy I need to go through the day so I figured you need them now more than ever!"

She wasn't wrong. Despite not being a huge fan of sweets, the sugar it had gave back even just a small amount of energy that was crucial to their situation. It was better than nothing too.

"While I recuperate for a moment, Mr. Daichi and Mr. Alistair."

Both sophomores stood to attention.

"Take Team RWBY and the rest of Team JNPR and eliminate the rest of the Grimm below. When you see the puddles of black blood, use Ice Dust to freeze them solid. Burning them until they evaporate is not an option — it would simply take an inordinate amount of time and Fire Dust.

Ms. Scarlatina, carry on with the first aid. When you're done, stay and guard the airship with Ms. Adel and await further orders."

As soon as everyone received their orders, they immediately took action. While everyone took turns jumping out of the airship, Pyrrha Nikos stood to Glynda's side.

"Professor?"

Glynda turned her head to see who called out and raised an inquisitive brow.

"What about..." Pyrrha gingerly rubbed her arm as she let her eyes wander the airship while finding her words. "What about Tiella? And Lilly?"

Glynda blinked at her for a moment. "I received a status report from Professor Port. Airships Three and Four are down."

"Wha-"

"But just before the situation got any worse, the Vale Military arrived with fighter jets — the Huntsman Guild has arrived as well."

Pyrrha was glad at the news that reinforcement had finally arrived but she was still left confused about her unanswered question. Luckily for her, Glynda answered that in a moment.

"We will assist Lilly as soon as we've finished eliminating the Grimm below or when reinforcements have arrived at our position, whichever comes first."

Pyrrha nodded slowly, taking in her professor's words, though she still had doubts about the entire situation. Seeing this, Glynda sighed and took off her glasses to wipe them clean.

"Miss Nikos, I will be honest with you."

Pyrrha nodded attentively. Though, before Glynda continued, she wore her glasses back first.

"I have no idea."

Pyrrha's answer may be silent, but the surprise on her face was all the answer Glynda needed.

"But what I _do_ know is that Ms. Lillianne is facing something she can't communicate through the intercoms and that she badly needs our help. I would take care of the Grimm below myself but..."

"That's okay, Miss Goodwitch," Pyrrha spoke. She gratefully smiled at her. "Thank you for telling me." And not a second longer, Pyrrha had already jumped out of the airship.

Glynda let another sigh out and took a modest bite of one cookie. She didn't see it, but she could still feel the concern from the rest who were left in the airship.

 _"I should tell Lilly about Mr. Armas' situation."_

* * *

Lillianne's long black hair rustled in the air as she dodged another one of _her_ punches. She tilted her body to the right then quickly spun closer into _her_ space. Immediately, she let out a palm strike filled to the brim with her Aura and aimed for _her_ chest.

 _"I must hurry. She's started using Tielle's techniques on me! If I get hit by even one of them, I'll die!"_

She was surprised when she saw the familiar jab _she_ used against her. That one flickering fist that rippled through the air and caused sonic booms even as it struck nothing. She was so taken aback by the sudden development that she nearly got hit in the chest by it. Luckily for her, she was capable of moving faster.

 _Much_ faster.

The palm strike pushed _her_ away by a meter or so but it wasn't enough to truly stagger _her_. So she closed in once again, dodging by a hair's breadth an uppercut that appeared to almost cut the air itself. And as soon as she got close enough, she delivered another palm strike at the same exact place — right in the center of _her_ chest.

She pulled her hand away just as she pushed _her_ back and dashed forward for another strike that carried all the force she could muster in that small amount of time and space.

The resulting blow was akin to a small bomb that covered the area in a smokescreen. She couldn't see anything through all the dust, smoke, and ash, but — with her ears — she could _feel_ the vibrations in the air that came from both sides. Anticipating the blow, she quickly threw both fists out at _her_ shoulders, stopping the attack before it could even come close. She did a spiral motion going outwards with both hands struck _her_ chest with a double palm strike.

She jumped back and caught her breath for a bit. She managed to push her a good distance away with that final double palm strike but she doubted it did actual damage. She was, however, confident that she was doing something.

When faced with the indestructible, what should one do?

The most rational action towards this was to do nothing _against_ it but instead work around it or simply avoid it. But Lillianne was a woman of many talents. She learned from everything around her, directly or vicariously. And one of the most important things she learned was from her dearest friend, Tiella Margory.

 _"If you can't see a weakness, then make one and exploit it!"_

Such was the wisdom of one who had survived through many skirmishes. There were hundreds of people in the world — Earth or Remnant — that were physically stronger and/or faster than her, but what Tiella lacked in specs, she made up for with wit, skill, and experience.

 _"Use everything to your advantage! There's no such thing as fighting dirty if it means living to see another day!"_

She took one last quick breath before charging in once more. In a blink, she was already on _her_. And in another, she had struck another palm at the exact same place. And it was with that last strike that she felt a slight change. She jumped back further than before to give herself a little breathing room while looking at her palm. She eyed it curiously and took the time to do so in large thanks to God Eyes.

 _"This is..."_

She thought while rubbing her fingers together. There were some unknown dust particles in the palm of her hands and even with her vast knowledge, she couldn't quite identify them. She looked back at _her_ and found that at the center of _her_ chest — minor as it appeared, barely discernible, even — there were cracks.

She let a small smile grace her features at her small victory.

 _"...the weakness I shall exploit."_

Small as it was, Lillianne took it as a giant leap towards Tiella. So she readied her fighting stance once again, only this time however, she drew Marius and Rosetta to aid.

 _"I don't understand why_ _ **she**_ _stopped using Hollowing on me — perhaps it's because it takes even more out of Tielle but either way — I don't have much time. Either Tielle dies first or I drive_ _ **it**_ _out of her — and I'm not willing to stand around to simply wait and observe."_

As she raised her shield and pointed her sword at _her_ , she found that her opponent was in a peculiar stance _herself_. Right foot far back, left foot bent at the knee as if in a runner's starting stance, however, _her_ fists were raised both to guard and attack. It wasn't until _she_ moved when she realized what _she_ was to do.

In a _tiny fraction_ of a blink, _she_ went from several meters from her to barely an inch to her face. She almost couldn't catch it even with God Eyes. She reacted instinctively, and ducked and rolled under the straight punch that aimed to obliterate her head. _She_ went far past her and disappeared into the woods behind them. In the meantime, Lillianne tried to calm her rapidly beating heart, and she only narrowly escaped death thanks to her training and Essentia. She looked behind her — at _her_ starting point — and found that _she_ , in fact, did not run.

To her eyes, _she_ simply kicked to dash forward — and it blasted the ground beneath _her_ feet and split the earth in _her_ wake.

 _"She's_ _started considering me as a threat."_ And the thought of it sent shivers down her spine.

Loud crashes and stomps snapped her out of her thoughts. In the distance, she saw _her_ bulldozing towards her.

"Very well!" She yelled as loud as she could while slamming her fists unto her knees, a way to rid herself of her jitters. She raised her weapons once more. " _Come!_ "

She banged her sword on her shield then ducked low and thrust outward. Dodging the left haymaker, she hit the small cracks on _her_ chest with the tip of her sharp blade. She swiftly followed up her attack with a shield uppercut, then used the shield's edge to strike _her_ chest a second time before swinging her shield up and out, parrying another attempt to strike her. She capitalized on the opening with a powerful thrust at the cracks.

Meanwhile, _she_ , despite having _her_ attacks parried and dodged, was never truly staggered or hurt. _Her_ attempts to fight back were simply guided away, and to _her_ , it was the most impressed _she'd_ been in quite some time. _She_ supposed that it was only right to answer such skill and finesse in return.

So, _she_ kept up _her_ attacks. Unrelenting in every move, _she_ threw punch after punch and kick after kick at the blessed girl. Half of _her_ attacks were parried while the others were dodged. However, _she_ didn't mind. _She_ was patient. _She_ was waiting for the perfect moment to counter.

And _she_ took it as a fact that it will come. It always had.

Lillianne thrust her sword out aiming for _her_ chest again and that was just what _she'd_ been waiting for.

Lillianne's eyes widened in surprise. Marius flew in the air, catching her off guard by the way she was parried and disarmed. Just as she was mid-thrust of her sword, she saw the devilish grin on _her_ face. As the tip of her sword stabbed into _her_ hardened skin, _she_ slightly tilted _her_ body back, letting the sword slide off of _her_. That was when _she_ shot _her_ left fist from below — aiming for her forearm.

Tears formed at the corner of her eyes as she clenched her teeth in pain from her bones shattering even through her Aura. Marius flew away and so her right side was left vulnerable. With not much choice left for her, she quickly raised her shield to her face to block a straight from the same left hand that nearly blew off her right forearm. The punch carried such force that shockwaves blew all dust, debris, and even the _lava_ away. She felt the entirety of her left arm go numb from it.

She rocketed nearly a hundred meters backward in a blink and the only reason she didn't go any further was that she'd buried her legs into the soil and stood her ground.

She bit her lower lip until it bled as she clenched her shattered forearm. She observed how her forearm bent at a sharp angle with her bone nearly piercing her skin. She could barely move her fingers. She looked ahead and found _her_ sprinting towards her once again.

After making a quick decision, she took a deep breath and held it in. She clenched her teeth and swiftly straightened out her own forearm with a resounding crack. She let out a voiceless yell as she breathed hard.

The pain was nearly comparable to having it broken but she endured it in favor of ducking low and striking _her_ left knee with the edge of her shield.

She quickly pulled her shield back and struck _her_ chest again, and again, and again, and again, and again. She struck _her_ chest 16 times in a flash before she ended her short barrage with a dropkick that sent her a good distance away from _her_.

When she landed, she shook her right forearm and copped it. There was a dull ache to it but it was bearable compared to the stinging pain from before. She tried moving her fingers but it was only enough that she could clench them halfway. Still, she thought, it was better than being unable to use her right arm at all. She was ambidextrous, but in this fight, she needed all the advantages she could get. Besides, her right hand should heal in time, she believed.

 _"That surprised me. She's adapting to my attacks. I don't know if that's Tielle's skill as a fighter kicking in or that_ _ **it**_ _is simply a gifted fighter in_ _ **its**_ _own right."_

She took a deep breath and released it slowly while keeping an eye on her opponent.

 _"Glynda, any time now would be great."_

Lillianne rushed _her_ with her shield raised. She was met with a powerful right kick, but she tilted her shield slightly, deflecting the blow while receiving the minimum amount of damage. She pushed _her_ boot to the side and bashed her shield at _her_ chest.

Little did she expect that _she_ would use the momentum from having _her_ boot deflected and pushed away to do a roundhouse kick right at her head.

Boot met head and a powerful blast wiped out the general direction of the forest _her_ kick was aimed at in a cone.

Everything was annihilated and, for a moment, _she_ nearly relaxed. _She_ expected nothing but the neck down but what _she_ saw instead was a head tilted away from _her_ and the smuggest grin Lillianne had ever worn.

"Hehehe… HAHAHAHAHAHA! I did it! I actually did it!"

Lillianne hit her mark, but she knew she'd have been unable to dodge the incoming kick.

So, instead, in the minuscule amount of time she had before her head violently met with _her_ kick, she calculated the exact trajectory of _her_ boot, pinpointing just where on her head she would be receiving the most damage.

She then gathered half of _all_ her Aura at a tiny point on the right side of her head, gathered the rest of it to cover the essential parts of her body for support, and braced herself for impact.

The kick rattled her quite a bit and left her in a slight daze, but her grin was a way to bluff through the damage she received.

She didn't quite expect to be able to survive such a powerful blast on her own but she figured that, with her wealth of Aura, she could mitigate most of the damage. Though, she didn't expect to mitigate _that_ much, which was a welcome surprise.

She looked back at her with dimly glowing eyes and found genuine fascination in those cold and hollow eyes.

 _"If I can take_ _ **her**_ _hits…"_ Lillianne's eyes widened in realization.

She struck back with the edge of her shield just as _she_ was trying to move away. She gathered her Aura at a tiny point on her shield much like she did to block the attack that would've blown her head off. And the blow, as soon as it connected to _her_ chest, not only blew her further away but also dealt a _large_ crack on _her_ chest.

The resulting damage she dealt even caught her by surprise.

Lillianne grinned ear to ear and her eyes were wide as saucers in excitement. For the first time in the fight, she felt as if she had an actual chance of winning.

 _She_ flew and rolled in the air but _she_ maneuvered by twisting _her_ body so that _she_ could land upright. _Her_ face was hidden from view, but the way _her_ shoulders shook gave Lillianne goosebumps.

It wasn't after a few moments did Lillianne realize that _she_ was _laughing_.

 _Laughing!_

And, strangely enough, the realization made her feel very disturbed. She couldn't stand seeing the face of her best friend laughing in a way so alien to her and it made her bristle in anger.

 _She_ looked up and the smile Lillianne saw was disconcertingly terrifying and beautiful. It was reminiscent of the smile Tiella rarely wore but it had a hint of coldness to it that could only be because of the one who was possessing her.

 _"How unfair."_ Lillianne sulked in her mind.

She watched as _she_ took a very familiar stance while she did the same and, again, her heart churned at the eerily uncanny stance she was so used to facing against.

She wasn't one to be taunted.

She _truly,_ truly wasn't.

But for the first time in her life...

 _"I'll_ _ **rip**_ _you from Tielle and_ _ **tear you apart.**_ _"_

...she wanted nothing more than to make someone _suffer_.

They rushed each other at once, and for the first time since the fight started, _she_ made an attempt to dodge an attack. _She_ tilted _her_ body to the side and dodged a shield uppercut. _She_ then stepped further into Lillianne's range and made an attempt to grab her by the face.

Lillianne wasn't even surprised anymore. The fact that _it_ was starting to fight more and more like Tiella had lost its shock-factor the moment she wasn't taken down the first time. At that point in the battle, it was both a convenience and annoyance. Convenient that _it_ was using a fighting style she was used to facing off against, and annoying that it became much harder to land her blows.

Lillianne countered by elbowing the outstretched arm that aimed for her face and followed it up with a shield bash on _her_ face. She managed to forcefully turn _her_ cheek away so she used that moment to throw her shield into the air to pass it onto her other hand. It had healed significantly but it was _far_ from usable in her current fight. As soon as she caught the shield with her injured right hand, she clenched her left and hammered it right into _her_ chest.

She followed up her attack with a palm strike — amplified with her new Aura technique — that pushed _her_ back and ended her counter with a piercing claw that dug her fingers deep into the cracks she made on _her_ chest.

With her fingers sunk deep, she violently clenched, pushed, and twisted her hand, throwing _her_ away as _she_ spun at high speeds — crashing and rolling on the ground for a few meters.

As expected, she dealt a considerable amount of damage against her with an immensely risky technique. With how she gathered her Aura at tiny points in her body instead of evenly spreading it out to protect her, she left herself vulnerable to getting killed by even the smallest mistakes she could possibly make.

 _"I'll save you, Tielle! I'm right here!"_

"Tielle! Please wake up!"

She wore her shield on her left hand once again and rushed at _her_ even before _her_ roll came to a stop. She kicked to stomp _her_ down but due to the heavy dust and debris that obstructed her view, she was unable to see the hand that came up at the last moment.

Just before her kick could connect, it was grabbed as _she_ came to a stop. And from that moment alone, they both realized who won the battle.

Lillianne's heart raced as her eyes went wide staring back at the devilish grin _she_ wore as _she_ slowly stood from the ground while tightly clenching _her_ hand around her leg. Lillianne's eyes glowed brightly, the start of a desperate attempt to get herself out of _her_ clutches. It was an incredibly reckless gamble as she'd already used The One Almighty twice since she arrived and twice more before she passed out and woke up just hours prior.

She couldn't truly tell whether she could stay awake after a 5th attempt on the same day.

But still, she bet on it anyway because, to her mind, if she couldn't save Tiella, who would? She'd resolved to lie down _as_ the wire for everyone to cross over as she believed that, either way, she would fall. So she'd rather fall because she did than fall because she did not.

Though, before she could even begin to remove herself from her situation, a purple glyph appeared between them. It spun gradually and it pulsed an invisible force so immense it managed to make _her_ loosen _her_ grip ever so slightly. But it was enough of an opening for Lillianne to take advantage of and escape.

Lillianne jumped back, flipping in the air and prepared to land. Though, before she could, she felt enveloped by an energy signature slightly alien to her and was pulled up to the sky. She didn't feel that it was hostile so she did not dare make a move against it, though she did wonder for a quick second who it could belong to until she remembered that there was only one person she knew that had purple Aura and knew Telekinesis.

"Glynda!" Lillianne yelled as she looked up and spotted the airship moving towards her. "Don't bring me back to the airship! It's dangerous! Put me down!" She heard a rumbling sound from below and her eyes darted to search for it. She went wide-eyed and tried to break free but failed. "There's a boulder aiming for you! Glyn-"

And the boulder exploded as soon as it hit the airship. However, before the pieces could fall to the ground, they all spun in the air slowly, gradually gaining speed while wrapped in a purple glow. From beside the pilot, Glynda could be seen waving her riding crop to move the boulder pieces according to her will. She adjusted her glasses and with a flick of her arm, rained down the high-speed, high-revolution boulder pieces back at the one who threw them.

The ground exploded in a cloud of dust and debris, obscuring the small clearing below from view.

Lillianne couldn't help the wry smile on her face for worrying and let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. She'd shake her head had she been allowed to, but she settled to simply relaxing against the force that carried her up. Moments later, her trip ended and she was back in the airship.

"Thanks for the save, Glynda." Lillianne smiled apologetically.

All else who she requested come with Glynda was there, though she hadn't expected Bardel to be in a severely critical state — or at least was, judging by the state of his injuries and Jaune who was in deep focus providing Aura. She worried about him quite a bit but he appeared to be in good hands, so she switched her focus to those that needed her immediate attention.

Glynda simply nodded in response and Lillianne didn't fail to notice her tense expression. "Is that who I think it is?" She heard her stiffly ask.

Lillianne's face almost appeared to cry as she nodded her head but she steeled herself with a resolute smile. "It's her."

"What happened?"

"I'd be happy to tell you but I don't think now is the right time," Lillianne said, though she saw the impatience in Glynda's eyes so she relented a little. "For now, just understand that what she's going through is similar to what happened to me in the day Ozpin unlocked my Aura. But in her case, it's infinitely worse."

Glynda's eyes hardened in fear of Lillianne's words and a quick scan around the airship showed that it wasn't just Glynda who felt the weight of them. She was normally one for euphemisms and understatements as a means to indicate a level of control even in the direst situations but with how things were going, she couldn't find it in herself to not be completely honest lest they head to battle unprepared in all sorts of ways.

"She's being possessed by a malevolent god — a malignant being from our world that somehow managed to follow us here. Who this God is, I don't know, but I have a few guesses." Her eyes turned to the side in contemplation though she met eyes with Glynda again as she dismissed her thoughts. "And while that's very much important, what matters now is that the longer that god is inside Tielle, the lower the chance of her waking up — and that's assuming she wouldn't die because of the strains of housing a god for such a duration."

Glynda suppressed the urge to rush out with a scowl. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to ease her nerves, she succeeded, though not by much. "How dangerous is she right now?" Just asking the question was enough to put stakes in her heart. She frowned at herself for her choice of words.

Lillianne dropped her smile and the seriousness of the situation became almost palpable to everyone — as if you could taste the despair in the air. There was a moment of silence that no one dared to interrupt with even a small breath. They all watched as Lillianne raised her right arm and what they saw along with the girl's spoken words sent their spines tingling.

"Aura or no, you _**will**_ die if you get hit."

Her entire forearm was swollen and bruised with bits of cuts and tears all around it where blood dripped.

"That's..." Yang couldn't help but let out as she slowly reached out a hesitant hand towards Lillianne, though she quickly let it fall to her side. _"Was this the same invincible monster I heard Celeste talk about all those weeks ago?"_

And at the same time, Glynda had the same thoughts as she had already connected the dots from Tiella's story with what was happening. She bit her lip again and wondered whether they could even do something for Tiella even if they combined all their strengths together. It's a _god_ they're facing, for Oum's sake!

 _A god!_

How are they so sure that's true?

And even if it was, how in the world do you fight that!?

She turned to look out the window and assess the situation but Lillianne rushed past her with her shield held to attack. She heard the sound of glass shattering and instead of seeing the forest below, she saw Lillianne's shield being held back by a blackened hand that broke through the bulletproof windshield of the airship like it was brittle glass.

She traced the arm up slowly as she felt a lump in her throat. There were equal parts in her mind that yelled at her to turn back and never look at it and another that was screaming at her to go ahead and see. She tried to fight her contradicting instincts and without her realizing, she ended up meeting eyes with Tiella.

No...

That was _not_ Tiella.

That was _evil_ personified.

Malevolent eyes of gold nonchalantly looked back at her as if she was a mere insignificant insect. A stark contrast to the chill that shook her to the very core of her soul. As if death would have been a far more pleasurable alternative to coming face to face with it.

It was disgusting and heart-rending how its face was familiar but she could see nothing of the person it belonged to.

She tried to look away but she couldn't. She tried to move but found herself stuck. She hadn't even realized that she was down on both knees as she stared back at _her_ — back at _it_.

Her breathing hitched and the lump caught in her throat made it even harder to breathe as she slowly reached her hands towards her neck. Her body stiffened in fright, unable to move, save for the involuntary twitches courtesy of the bone-chilling gaze whatever _evil_ was looking back at her.

And just as she thought it couldn't get any worse, _she_ smiled at her.

It wasn't just any smile too.

It was no devilish grin, it was no demonic smile.

It was that soft and loving visage she missed so dearly.

 _"Glynda..."_

And that voice... oh so familiar — exactly the voice of the one she fell in love with.

" _Tiella...?_ " Her voice weakly cried out.

She reached a meek hand out while tears ran down her cheeks. Her fingertips — just a scant amount of centimeters away from touching _her_ cheek — was abruptly held back by a painful grip.

"Glynda!" Lillianne's voice called out, snapping her out of her reverie. "Whatever you're seeing, it's not real!"

Glynda's eyes darted between Lillianne and... and that... that _monster_.

Gone was the humanity in those eyes — the soft smile reserved only for her, and the tender voice that echoed in her mind.

What she saw was ashen white skin that faded to black at the end of each limb.

Malevolent gold eyes with cracks webbing around them and a gaze that could make even Grimm feel fear.

And finally, ashen gray hair robbed of its beautiful scarlet luster.

All of it summed by a permeating air of _majesty_ and _woe_.

Her body's natural reaction upon seeing it again and realizing that she'd been lured by the sweetest of all honeys was to tremble in fear, anger, and disdain. She gnashed her teeth and kneaded her Aura.

Lillianne's eyes widened in fear when she noticed Glynda's eyes become clouded by intense emotions.

"Glynda, no!" She yelled but was not heard.

She'd have grabbed Glynda's shoulders and shook her to her senses but her shield was trapped in a vise-like grip that pushed back against her, carrying enough force to bury her calf-deep into the airship's floor.

So, unable to do anything, she shut her eyes, formulated last second plans in her mind, and braced herself for the explosion of psychic force and purple soul power that blasted the airship out of the sky.

Using her newfound speed in great thanks to using her ultimate skill multiple times, she let slip her shield and ran back. She jumped from debris to debris towards each person. The first ones she reached were the pilot, Coco, and Pyrrha, before tossing them towards the trees below.

Then, she went for the rest of Team CFVY. She took twos on her shoulders before tossing them again before she jumped towards the others.

To Ruby and Yang.

To Weiss and Nora.

To Ren and Blake.

To Jaune and Bardel.

And finally, to the news reporting crew.

She managed to grab every single one of them with still a few dozen meters to spare before meeting with the ground. She carried them all on her shoulders and back, leaving only Glynda behind as she could not find a way to take hold of the woman when she was releasing a powerful explosion in her wrath-addled mind.

She was just barely balancing everyone with her entire being as she let gravity pull her down. Her plan saved everyone from suffering the fall and hoped that their Auras helped cushion most of the impact in addition to the branches of the trees. Though, she did fear for the news crew as she was sure that none of them had unlocked Auras.

She, on the other hand, did not have the time to protect her legs as she landed square on her feet before rolling down.

Her knees ached dully while her lower back felt sore. Her Aura surely softened most of the blow but the fact that she carried well over a dozen people as she accelerated down thanks to gravity, along with being pushed even faster down by Glynda's telekinetic blast could only mean she had very little time to protect herself. She could only count herself lucky that her legs didn't break from the impact — she was always grateful that she managed to build herself up to be sturdy.

And Tiella was right, Aura did work wonders.

When she'd come to with a face full of dirt, the first thing she saw was _her_ and Glynda's figures just beyond a few trees. She could only see their silhouettes thanks to the fires but it was clear to her what _she_ was trying to do.

Glynda was fighting back with all she could but even with all her strength and skill, _she_ was simply unfazed. _She_ took blow after blow of Aura-enhanced telekinetic throws of all manner of objects.

Lillianne tried to stand up but her legs still felt a little too numb for her to move accordingly. Glynda slowly backed away as she threw her all at the monster.

Plasma cannons, railguns made of rocks, concentrated telekinetic blasts — all that she could think of, all for naught. Even splitting the earth beneath her feet and shooting lava at her barely did anything. _She_ simply walked through all of it with the occasional attempts to catch anything that came for _her_ face.

As Glynda backed away, she tripped over an uprooted root of a charred tree and fell back.

"Glynda!" Lillianne cried out as she forced her legs to move. With her legs being uncooperative, she crawled her way towards Glynda instead. "Come to me! I can't help you from way over here! Glynda!"

Glynda's eyes met hers and she could see the fear in her tear-stricken rueful eyes. Lillianne's heart clenched when she saw the claw at the ready, aiming for Glynda who was too afeared to move.

"Tielle! That's Glynda!" She yelled in desperation. "THAT'S GLYNDA! YOUR LOVER, GLYNDA! SHE'S YOUR LOVER! IT'S GLYNDA! TIELLE, PLEASE!" She crawled forward, digging her fingers deep into the soil as she urged her legs to move. They were beginning to respond, but it was far from enough. " _NOOOOOOOOO!_ "

She slammed her fist on the ground, sending out a shockwave that sent the earth in front of her exploding upwards in a cone that _almost_ reached Glynda's aid. Helplessly and painfully, she watched in widely growing eyes as _she_ pulled Glynda up by the arm.

And without a second's hesitation, thrust _her_ claw at Glynda's heart.

Only to be stopped by a wall of ice, a _ginormous_ great sword made of light, a barrage of bullets from varying rounds, and a hail of grenades that sent Glynda away from their adversary.

Glynda grunted in pain as she rolled after being blasted away. She tried to stand but felt her arms weak. But before her face could meet the ground again, two pairs of arms held her up from both sides.

"So this is what it's like to face against one possessed by a god."

"Her skin... I wonder if it is painful for her."

"Regardless, we should save her — orders or not."

"I'm not sure if I can, I'm loathed to admit it, but I'm very scared right now."

She looked up and saw her students Fox and Yatsuhashi. Both looked fine, they had some scratches and skid marks here and there, but fine nonetheless — their Aura should heal their small and shallow wounds momentarily. She trained her eyes ahead as she heard gunfire and saw a flash of white light. She stood with the assistance of both students and only then did she see Lillianne limping her way towards them.

"Glynda." She smiled wryly.

"L-Lillianne..." As soon as Glynda saw the look she was getting from the younger girl, she remembered what she'd done that led to their airship being blown to smithereens. "I-I'm truly sorry for my reckless behavior-"

"Shush, it's fine." She dismissed with a wave. "It was rough but it was better than fighting her in-"

Before she could finish her sentence, her eyes widened as her ears twitched. At the same time, Yatsuhashi and Fox raised their weapons for combat but were too afeared to do much else.

And because Lillianne stood in front of her, Glynda could not see anything that would alert her but the moment Lillianne ducked, stepped back, and twisted her body backward for a sharp elbow blow, she reflexively took a step back in preparation for combat as well as she saw the same black claws that nearly gouged her heart out of her chest.

Lillianne's elbow struck blindingly fast but it wasn't enough to stagger _her_. _She_ retaliated with a right hook but Lillianne simply ducked it and struck with her other elbow, twisting to the opposite side with much the same force and speed.

She quickly made some distance between them by dealing an uppercut with her left to stop another retaliation and a claw strike with her right that dug her fingers deep into _her_ chest. She pushed back as hard as she could while twisting her arm and the move sent _her_ spinning and flying away, crashing through dozens of trees and rocks before stopping with a roll.

The claw strike using her right arm was painful enough that it nearly made her tear up but Lillianne stood tall as she breathed deeply, fully aware that the way she just countered the one they were supposed to save put most, if not all of them off.

"Listen and listen close!" She yelled in a powerful voice that commanded everyone's attention. "The one you're fighting is indeed Tielle! But right now, a malevolent god is in control of her body! And so, she has received its blessing! She will be treating your attacks as nothing more than air and so she would not even bother dodging! She is powerful — stronger than anything you've faced and probably ever will! So brace yourselves! And hope that her eyes won't fall on anyone but me!"

"But how do we save her!?" Glynda asked, not welcoming the news of Tiella's newfound strength. "How are we supposed to save her!? Do we just keep attacking and hope she tires out!?"

"No, that would be disadvantageous for us. The longer we fight, the higher the chance Tielle will die at the end of it whether we drive the god out or not."

"Then how!?"

"My Semblance."

Glynda stood dumbfounded — and it wasn't just her. "Your... what?"

"I unlocked it earlier. I'll tell you how later, what's important is that I need a chance to use it."

"What is it then?"

Lillianne stood with her guard up, "I'm not entirely sure just yet, but I believe that it is Astral Projection."

Glynda was about to ask about it but a voice from the intercoms interrupted their discussion.

[Uh... guys?] Ruby radioed. [I think Lilly's attack did nothing.]

Lillianne saw that _she_ was simply walking back to them as if _she_ wasn't just attacked at a vital point.

"That's normal," She answered. "Do not engage in close quarters combat! I repeat, _do not engage in close quarters combat!_ "

She strode to meet _her_ in the middle, ready for another bout of her fists hitting what felt like steel until a yell took part of her attention away momentarily.

"Lilly!" She heard Pyrrha call from a distance. "Catch!"

She dared not look away but she did tilt her head in the direction of Pyrrha's voice. Her ears twitched as she heard the familiar whistle of cherished items in the air. She couldn't help the smile on her face as she caught Rosetta with her right before quickly throwing it at _her_ face. She quickly caught Marius with her left as she spun to her right, building momentum for a thrust at _her_ chest just as Rosetta bounced off _her_ when _she_ parried with a backhand.

 _She_ caught the thrust with a hand and it cut into it. Lillianne was surprised for a moment but she quickly followed through with her attack by pulling slightly then pushing again but added a twist of her arm as if to drill the sword through _her_ hold. The attack did nothing but make _her_ take one step back.

Lillianne caught Rosetta as it landed behind her with a kick. It bounced up and she caught it with her right hand and smashed the edge on _her_ forehead, turning her head away for a moment, which Lillianne took great advantage of by smashing the shield onto _her_ chest.

The blow landed…

—not.

Lillianne's eyes hardened when not only her sword was caught but also her shield. She struggled to break free, pushing and pulling in an attempt to loosen _her_ grip by even a tiny bit. Contrary to her efforts, however, _she_ appeared nonchalant.

 _Her_ gaze was flat, _her_ lips formed a small line. _She_ stared back at the eyes of a resolute warrior fighting for her life with a carefree gaze, a mockery of their efforts — a mockery of Lillianne's efforts.

And...

—Without taking so much as an inhale, with not even a bat of an eyelid, with her expression completely unchanging...

Cracks rang sharply and loudly despite the roaring of flames, bullets, and explosions in the background. The deafening sound of metal shattering stunned her. She watched helplessly as broken pieces of Marius and Rosetta fell to their feet while _she_ gently took her hands in _hers_. The act took her attention away from her precious items, making her look up in alarm to meet the gaze of one bearing such sweetness and fondness to it.

 _Her_ smile was sweet and _her_ touch was soft.

Her mind went blank as she felt lost in golden eyes, reminiscent of a friend held dearest.

She felt her hands lowered between them. She felt them let go of the abhorrently comforting warmth she hadn't realized she'd been lulled into. She felt disgusted when her cheeks were cupped gently between hands as black as the starless, sunless, moonless sky — and were rubbed tenderly by _her_ thumbs.

Her heart ached and her mind raged when she realized what _she_ was doing to her.

 _"You... you...!_ _ **Self-aggrandizing ostentatious cockalorum of a rakefire..!**_ _"_

 _She_ was toying with her.

All that time fighting her with her life on the line, all those moments in which she could have easily died, all the effort to keep _her_ from going after anyone or anything else.

All the confidence she'd built up leading to that moment...

 _"Are you saying that no matter what I do, I'll never win!?"_

...shattered.

Destroyed, broken, ripped apart at the seams — more so than the fragmented moon in a world named after pieces of what's left behind.

 _"I'm the_ _ **Blessed Girl!**_ _"_

She snarled and slapped _her_ hands away.

 _"I'm the one who stands atop humanity!"_

She clenched her fist tight and wound up for an unrestrained punch.

 _"I am the genius among geniuses! I am she who has no competition, she who breaks fates, she who sits at the zenith!_

 _I AM 'THAT DAMN GIRL THAT CAN DO EVERYTHING BETTER THAN ANYONE, GODDAMNIT!'_

 _I AM ALICIEL LILLIANNE LE FIORA DE LA VERNILLION!"_

And let loose all her anger in a simple but peerless left straight.

 _"AND I AM BEST FRIENDS WITH YOUR PRISONER, CELESTIELLA V. MARGORY!"_

It was a fist that carried all her might, all her rage, and all her love.

But...

Her eyes widened and she bit her lip until she drew blood.

...she missed.

 _She_ merely tilted _her_ head to the side and let the powerful left straight detonate behind _her_. The blast was akin to one of Bardel's normal punches — trees swayed, rocks and debris flipped over, and magma was almost swept away. In her wrath-addled mind, she failed to realize in time that the large windup she did before her punch practically announced to just about _everyone_ what her intention was. And so, even when she was nowhere near as fast, using what _Tiella Margory_ had learned and experienced, she simply tilted her head out of the way.

And for that, she was punished _severely_.

" _Ahhkk!_ " She coughed, spitting out blood.

 _She_ pulled her close and whispered softly _her_ first words to her in her ear. **"All the power in the world at the tip of your fingers yet it's all wasted because you're** _ **weak**_ **."**

She bent over, not in pain, but from the force of the blow — no, she was much too shocked to feel pain. She looked down and saw _her_ claw buried- no, _skewered through_ her stomach and out her back. Before she could react further, _she_ pulled _her_ hand out and sent her flying back with a kick towards Glynda, Fox, and Yatsuhashi.

 _ **"Weak as I am, you're still weaker. You were good at the start but…**_ " She sighed in despondency. _**"Pathetic, more so than my daughter who faced me with no such gifts — it's why I chose her."**_ She stood lax, stretching her chest, back, and neck in that order. She observed how her right hand very slowly crumbled into pieces. _**"Hmm, it's time. I've had my fill for now. Weak as they are, premature deaths are unwanted. Therefore, a parting gift is needed."**_

They tried to stop her, but when they caught her mid-flight, they were simply carried dozens of meters back even when they stood their ground and braced themselves. Glynda even summoned a glyph behind them to cushion the blow and slow them down but they simply broke through it without even a second's pause. So instead, she manipulated the soil beneath them to crumble and loosen, allowing them to slow down and sink into it as if they were standing on sand.

It wasn't after about a dozen or so more meters did they stop and see how far they'd been pushed back. And it wasn't until then did Glynda remember that Lillianne had a gaping hole that went through her stomach and out her back — as if a chunk of her body was blown away.

And yet, what surprised all of them the most was the fact that the girl was still conscious, though barely holding on.

Lillianne coughed blood and spoke weakly in Glynda's arms. "G-Glyn...da..."

"Shush!" Glynda pressed a hand to her gaping wound and let her Aura run through. "You need immediate medical attention! This isn't something first aid can fix!"

"N-No..." Lillianne shut her eyes and barely managed to shake her head. "I... I want you... I want all of you to protect my body... I will use... Astral Projection..."

"What?"

"...a-and-" She coughed out blood which led to her vomiting it all over herself. Ignoring it, she pressed on. "A-An..d... when I give you the signal-" She sucked in a breath. "...call out to Tielle... all of you..."

"W-Wait," Glynda called as Lillianne's eyes shone brightly.

"I-I'm.. sorry-" She coughed. "..b-but this is the best that I can... do..."

"Lilly! Wait-!" She gently shook her by the shoulders.

She feared that the girl had died in her arms but the way her eyes continued glowing despite her going limp told her that she wasn't quite ready to give in just yet.

 _Very close_ , but not yet.

She bit her lip in anxiety and so cast her gaze around her. _"What is the signal!?"_ And she found _her_ simply standing idly with one hand on _her_ waist.

With no rhyme nor reason, _she_ sat cross-legged in the middle of the forest with _her_ hands on _her_ knees and _her_ back straight. They were all scared and dumbfounded. Each one circled around and kept their distance from _her_ , observing _her_ as they expected everything and nothing.

 _She_ , without a hint of hesitation, ripped _her_ dress shirt right down the middle, exposing _her_ bare ashen white chest out in the open. It was marred by small holes and cracks thanks to Lillianne's continuous attacks, but even when the wounds seemed fatal, it truly was not — it was, at best, a minor inconvenience.

And before anyone could mutter their questions, _she_ plunged both hands deep into _her_ rib cage, spraying black blood all over.

The act of self-mutilation mortified them, especially Glynda who was on the brink of losing her last dredges of self-control to anger and fear. Her scathing eyes could do _nothing_ against the nonchalance of _her_ expression. She appeared to be _searching_ her innards for something. What it was, they did not know. Even when she withdrew her hands out of her body and tossed steaming, smoking black tar-like substances to the ground. The sight and the smell were truly off-putting, some could not help but throw up because of it.

And those who were _blessed_ with heightened senses, particularly those with acute olfactory organs, smelt the _barest_ hint of nicotine coming from the black sludge.

 _She_ sighed and nodded approvingly, contented with _her_ work. The supposed wounds on _her_ sides were nowhere to be seen and everyone found small comfort in the fact that the act, after all, was not simple self-mutilation. Or at the very least an attempt to kill its own host.

Not a second later, _she_ stood and casually made _her_ way towards Lillianne's limp body. When the two boys bravely stood to block _her_ path, _she_ simply placed a hand on their shoulders and gave them a gentle pat that made them kneel and short of breath. _She_ made the rest of the way with an easy smile while fixing _her_ clothes — the buttons were no more, so the best she could do was simply drape her shirt over the essentials.

As _she_ stood and towered over Lillianne and Glynda who was on the ground sitting, _she_ tilted _her_ head sideways with a simple stare. _She_ nodded and squatted in front of them, meeting Glynda's terrified gaze with a blank one.

Glynda felt like running away.

But she also felt like genuflecting.

She was in such an incomprehensible presence that her mind blurred and her emotions stirred like whirlwinds. All the anger she was directing at _her_ disappeared the moment they made eye contact and all she could do was shiver like a leaf in the wind.

She was so disturbed by _her_ presence that she failed to notice the black hand that cupped her right cheek and the other that touched the hand that pressed against Lillianne's wound.

 **"** _ **Z̵̢̧͔̯̭̟̻̮͔͎̀̃͐͂̉̆̉͊̚͜ê̶̢͖͐̋̈͝ń̶͖̪̰̜͔͕͈̇̐̄̓́̓ͅd̴̙̞̬̰͖̭͝ ̸̨̦̼̪͎͔͎̮͈͛̌̉̍̊͒͊͠Ą̴̢̨̭̩̳͔̣̪̣̾̅̓͋͐̾̐̅̚ͅv̷̢̱̪̥̦̜̘̉̍è̵̯͊̑̈́̎̀̈́ş̴̖̜̺̽ţ̶̛͎̦͆̊͑̿̑͒͘͝͝a̶͖͍͍̰͂͋̅̿͜**_ **"**

Blood gushed from her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and nails. The pain was excruciating but it felt nothing compared to what she'd experienced in her head. Her mind felt like it was just squeezed and twisted as if churning 20,000 leagues under the sea while being ripped apart in a vortex.

She had absolutely no clue as to what she'd just experienced and the closest thing to an explanation she could muster in her barely functioning mind was that she heard her speak words so incomprehensible that her mind nearly broke from it.

It was a miracle she stayed conscious through it, if only barely. Though, one might find it a pity she did.

What she didn't realize but others that could not help but observe did was the fact that the hole in Lillianne's stomach had closed. And they, stricken by fear, could do nothing but watch as the blood on Glynda's face was gently wiped away by Tiella's torn sleeve.

And without warning, _she_ was struck by an unseen force that carried _her_ far back, dragged across the ground only to stop when an explosive force slammed _her_ to the ground. Not a second later, _she_ was lifted into the air and glowed an eerie black. _She_ struggled for some seconds but eventually went limp and the glow surrounding _her_ faded away, vanishing like smoke into thin air, before _she_ was gently laid to the ground.

Everyone could utter nothing in response to the utter nonsense that they'd just witnessed. Ever since the beginning, they barely understood a thing even when Lillianne had explained why. They found it hard to believe that they were up against a god even when they came face to face with Tiella possessed.

It was so surreal that Yang sincerely wished it was just a fever dream after working out for so hard and so long followed up by pigging out on Mama's Sloppy Tiellas.

The glow in Lillianne's eyes vanished as she slowly came to, helping herself up.

"It's over..." She gasped the words out while clutching her stomach. "It's over..." She turned and saw Glynda, face slightly awashed with blood and in a daze. She held her tight in her arms as she wept tears. "It's over..."

Hearing the words, Velvet fell on her knees with their hands on the ground while Blake leaned on the tree she was taking cover on, letting out all their tension. They wanted to do more, they wanted to do _so_ much more.

But in the face of _that?_

They were lucky to still be alive relatively unscathed compared to Lillianne and Glynda.

Glynda barely reacted to Lillianne's embrace, she merely gave her a blank stare and it tore at Lillianne that she had to experience such a thing.

If only she'd done better.

If only she had more time.

If only she was stronger.

If only she hadn't met Tiella.

She let her tears flow silently for a moment longer before breaking away. She held Glynda, afeared that she'd simply fall on her back the moment she stood and let go. So she helped her up and let her lean on her shoulder before making their way towards Tiella.

 _"Tielle, you can come out now."_

Halfway through, the others gathered around them. Pyrrha offered to assist Glynda in Lillianne's stead and Nora quickly took Glynda's other arm to support. Ruby held Lillianne's hand as they walked. Lillianne was thankful for the gesture and so gave the little girl a gentle, appreciative squeeze of the hand. Ruby smiled up at her weakly in return.

Looking ahead, Yang was already by Tiella's side, holding her head in her lap as she knelt down the rough, charred soil. She gently brushed aside her fringes and revealed her skin slowly regaining its color.

"Hey, Celeste," Yang called softly and gave the unconscious girl a gentle nudge on the cheek. "Hey, wake up."

"Maybe she's just tired, Yang," Blake commented beside her. She hung her head as she sat beside her. "We're all tired."

Lillianne quickly knelt in front of them, checking up on Tiella with a gentle hand. She brushed her hand against her face, checked her pulse, her breathing. She felt her temperature and finally the beating of her heart. She found that her temperature, despite the intense heat surrounding them, was low and that her breathing was very weak — so were her heartbeat and pulse. Tiella was so fragile and weak that she couldn't help but panic.

But because of how exhausted she was after everything that happened, she could only bite her lip, touch Tiella's forehead with hers, and gingerly caress her best friend's cheek while letting out a whimper.

 _"No... please, don't do this to me. Don't do this, please... I-I... I have to do something."_

However, before she let herself fully succumb to fatigue, she managed to knead some of her Aura unto the tip of her index finger and let it envelop Tiella. She had none left, at least, none left that passively protected and healed her. She felt herself almost slip into a deep slumber when she did but she held on.

 _"Please, please don't fail me now. Do your job, please. There's no point in having an ocean's amount if I can't use it when I need it."_

Her purple soul wrapped around the unconscious girl in a warm, rejuvenating light.

 _"There's so much I need to tell you, Tielle._

 _I need to apologize..._

 _I need to tell you I love you..._

 _B-But most importantly, the one who possessed you..."_

She remembered her time while Astral Walking.

She was disoriented immensely and had a hard time figuring out how to control herself for some time. Moving in the astral plane was an experience she couldn't rightly explain. But when she finally got it, the first thing she did was grab the soul of whoever it was that possessed Tiella and rip it out of her body, hence, the reason she was dragged, slammed, and lifted up.

And the word _damning_ did not even begin to describe the revelation.

 _"...it's-... he's-..."_

Before she could see the effects of her actions, she, unfortunately, was taken in by all of her accumulated fatigue.

* * *

 _"Tielle!"_

A voice rang in my mind.

 _"Tielle!"_

There it is again.

 _"Tielle, I need you to come back!"_

It's so... _annoying_.

 _"Tielle, please!"_

I just want to sleep.

 _"Tielle, it's me!"_

I'm so damn tired...

 _"Lillianne!"_

I wanna just pass out in this void.

 _"It's me, Lillianne!"_

There's nothing to bother me and there's nothing for me to bother.

 _"Don't you remember!?"_

I just want to stay here forever and do _absolutely nothing_.

 _"What about Bardy!?_

 _What about Ruby and her friends!?_

 _What about Glynda?!"_

Glynda...? Was there... who is Glynda? Is she important?

 _"Are you just going to let Glynda see you like this!?"_

Glynda is... yes, I think she is. But why?

 _"What about Karen!?"_

Karen?

Karen is here?

That can't be right... she's supposed to be in...

Supposed to be in...

 _"Tielle!"_

...

 _"Tielle!"_

...

 _"Tielle!"_

...

Where is she supposed to be again...?

Does it matter...?

Should it matter?

 _"Tieeeelle!"_

I can't remember but... but I'm pretty sure she isn't supposed to be where I am.

Where I am...?

Where am I anyway?

And why can't Karen be here with me?

 _"Please, stop! Tielle!"_

That voice again...

 _"Please!"_

It's just so...

 _"Please!"_

...annoying...

 _"Tielle!"_

But...

 _"That's Glynda!"_

...it's also familiar.

 _"Tielle..!"_

I opened my eyes...

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _Ooooh dear me. I sure took my merry time with this one, huh?_

 _I'm still alive, don't worry!_

 _Now, I know I said I wouldn't apologize anymore for every time I took a while to upload but this is the first time I went way over a month before the last update._

 _I'm truly sorry, I originally wanted to update at the one year anniversary of Lost Star (that was on Jan. 19th) and I was already halfway through the chapter about 4 days before it but I couldn't find a satisfying ending in my mind to this whole damn arc._

 _There were also some personal problems I had to deal with that took some of my time but I personally was just unable to think of a way to end it. For the longest time, I couldn't find myself able to write this chapter when I've been wanting nothing more than to finish it and move on. Maybe I got tired of the overall mood of this whole arc but, I dunno..._

 _I even contemplated writing something else for a while to take a very short break from it._

 _But after much deliberation and forcing myself, here it is and I hope it's to your liking. I wouldn't be surprised if you don't though, I have mixed feelings about this chapter too._

 _Anyway, thank you so much for waiting patiently. With this, a new arc shall begin._

* * *

On an airship headed for Vale...

"Ms. Maxwell?"

"Yes, James?"

"That's _General Ironwood_ to you."

"Is that really wise to do?"

"What is?"

"Adding vodka to coffee."

"Of course!"

"..."

"Want some?"

"I appreciate the gesture but I must politely decline."

"No, no, no, I think you need it. I insist."

"The General isn't allowed to drink on duty. _We_ aren't allowed to drink on duty."

" _You_ aren't. I'm not on anyone's duty."

"..."

"..."

"And besides, even if I was, this doesn't affect me like you do, so I can drink as much as I want whenever I want."

"That's for certain."

"General Ironwood!"

"It's fine, Specialist Schnee. There is truth in her words."

"But still, sir! It's about having some semblance of decorum!"

"Let it go, _Ice Queen._ "

"How dare y-"

"Specialist, cease. She's not harming anyone."

"..."

"Heh."

"Yes, sir."

It was going to be a _long_ flight.


	35. Chapter 35: Almost a Home

There she laid, the soft warm bed's springs creaked at her movements. She held a hand to her face and shook her head awake — she sat upright.

"..."

For a time, she'd yet to collect her thoughts. Blank eyes glanced around the interior of a nondescript bedroom. The only sound was the wall clock's ticking. The curtain parted to let the soft breeze in through the only window of the room. The desk had a small plastic basin with a damp towel on it.

"..."

She looked down on herself and found that, underneath the blanket, she wore a simple white tank top — mildly drenched in her sweat at the back — paired with orange shorts.

"..."

She brushed her fringes up when she felt sweat built up uncomfortably on her forehead, revealing the diagonal scar going from her forehead down across her left eyebrow. Parched, she tried to stand from the bed but the moment her feet touched the floor and pushed herself to stand, she fell forward. She tried to grab across the room but the desk was a little too out of her reach. So, with a loud thud, she hit the floor with her elbow and forearm to save her face from abruptly meeting it instead.

The loud thud was momentarily followed by a rush of footsteps heard just outside the room, and in seconds, the door swung open, revealing a tall girl, physique well-built yet still quite voluptuous hidden under a white long sleeve turtleneck sweater under an apron. She had long black hair — styled in full bangs that framed her gorgeous face beautifully — and purple eyes, her face chock full of worry and surprise.

"Tielle! You're up!" The girl quickly ran to her aid. She reached a hand to pull Tiella by the shoulders. "Here, let me help yo-"

But it was swiftly slapped away. "Don't touch me. I don't need your help."

Surprised, she held her hand close to her chest as she eyed Tiella anxiously. "O-Okay."

Tiella grabbed the wooden chair from the desk and used it to help herself. Just as she did, she caught an image of herself in a full-body mirror to her left. Her eyes squinted at the sight of herself, greatly bewildered but she managed to hide her shock well enough.

Or so she believed.

Lilly walked up to Tiella with an easy smile. "Tielle? Would you like a glass of water?"

Tiella's immediate reaction was to turn and face the girl to meet her easy smile with a hostile glare looking down her upturned nose. Her fists clenched but she quickly relaxed them when she saw the girl looking back at her scared and confused.

"..."

She tilted her head as she gazed back at Tiella's piercing glare. She paused for a moment, wondering in her mind what had made the girl so infuriated, but a quick look at her face through dimly lit eyes told her all that she needed to know. And what she found was one of the few things she dreaded the most.

"Do you..." She licked and bit her lips anxiously before asking in her weakest, quivering smile. "Tielle-..." Pausing, she pursed her lips and corrected herself. "Tiella? Do you know who I am?"

* * *

 _"'Do you know who I am?' she says..."_ Tiella scoffed in her mind. _"Fuck no. I don't remember ever befriending an overly familiar girl like you."_

Tiella looked down her nose at her. She'd been wondering who the girl was since she came into the room. If she was her prisoner, she reckoned that she should've been tied up at least. It was also a possibility that the girl was delusional, and so the likelihood of her being kidnapped by some insane woman that believed they're the _bestest of friends_ or _family_ or some close relation bullshit like that wasn't that far off.

However, she'd have to consider the kind of girl she might be if she was skilled enough to imprison her in the first place.

 _"But..."_ She cast her gaze to the side, eyeing her arms, and legs. _"I feel different — I feel wrong. Something's not right. I don't remember how I got here nor do I remember ever meeting this girl. Last I checked, I just finished training with Karen and Granny Roberta."_

She was taken away from her thoughts when she saw the girl shift from the corner of her eyes. Meeting the smaller girl's gaze, she felt uncomfortable.

 _"What? Is she gonna cry any second now? God, who is this bitch and where the fuck am I?"_

Recalling that she hadn't answered the overly familiar girl's question, she squinted her eyes at her and spoke with thinly veiled distrust and wariness.

"Should I?"

The girl's eyes widened almost imperceptibly and her smile wavered just a tiny bit that it was barely noticeable, but it was there, and Tiella saw it. She smiled a little wider while letting out a short sigh before turning around with her hands on her waist.

An opening, Tiella thought, which could very well be a trap too.

"Yes, actually. I'm very important to you and you're very important to me. I'm sure you're feeling quite unsettled right now, so why don't we take a seat at the table. You woke up just in time for lunch so let's talk over something to eat, okay? Knowing you, you're positively famished right now."

Right on cue, Tiella's stomach grumbled loudly. The sound caught her off guard and so was embarrassed for herself while the smaller girl simply chuckled before stepping out of the room while holding the door ajar.

"I'll fetch you something to drink, in the meantime, your clothes are in the closet over there, so you can get out of that sweaty tank top and into something a bit cleaner. You can wipe yourself down with that damp towel over there to freshen up too."

When the strange girl finally shut the door, Tiella stood her place for a moment to process her circumstances.

 _"She knows who I am. She could be dangerous. Do I have to kill someone again? Shit."_

She looked down on her clothes and remembered that she _was_ still damp with sweat and so was a little sticky and itchy in certain areas.

 _"Maybe I'll hear her out first. She looks like she knows how to take care of herself but we'll see how well when push comes to shove."_

She stripped and left her clothes on the floor.

 _"What the fuck...!?"_

She eyed her naked body dubiously. Particularly the unfamiliar set of scars that adorned her entire body. A long scrape that ran down her shoulder, two bullet holes on the lower left side of her stomach, cuts of varying lengths all over her forearms and flanks. The bullet holes were fairly recent as far as she could remember, but last she looked, it didn't look that old.

She turned around and let out a sigh of relief when the only scar that was there was the burn scar on her back that she got as a present when her uncle pressed a hot iron on her a long time ago. She sent her eyes a little lower and her mood quickly fell when she saw the same two bullet holes on her lower back.

 _"Jesus fucking Christ, what the fuck happened to me? These don't look recent — I'm pretty fucking sure these are months old at least. What the fucking hell happened?"_

She, with unnerved hands, wiped herself down with the damp towel from the basin. She felt slightly refreshed from the cool water — though that did nothing to improve her mood. After that, she checked the closet not expecting anything other than her mercenary gear so she was greatly surprised when she couldn't find them anywhere.

She half-expected to see some flimsy articles of clothing that she'd be forced to wear thanks to some pervert. But after searching for a short while, she found a familiar white dress shirt, cargo pants that fit her to a T, fingerless tactical gloves, and studded metal combat boots that reached mid-calf. She was happy to find her clothes but she still felt naked when she couldn't find any of her weapons. She cautiously looked back at the door for a second before searching the rest of the room.

She checked under the clothes, the drawer at the bottom of the closet, and under the bed but she had no luck. She went to the desk and checked the drawers expecting nothing to come up but again, she was greatly surprised when she found her pistols in one of them. Checking the other drawers, she eventually found her knives.

 _"Why not take them away? Why leave them here for me? Does she underestimate me? Just what the hell happened to me? Did I go for a drink and got smashed so hard I got taken home by this little princess and now she thinks she's my girlfriend or something? Is that why she said I'm important to her and she's important to me? Fuck, I need answers."_

Confused, anxious, angry, and hungry, she glanced around the room once more and found her underarm holsters hanging by the clothes rack on the door. Baffled once again, she shook her head and wore them.

 _"She's gonna regret leaving my babies in the same room as me if she's some retarded kidnapper looking to get some ransom."_

For one last time, she searched the room for anything else that was hers and was, for the nth time in the short time since the moment she woke up, greatly puzzled when she found her _smartphone_ just charging behind the small night lamp next to the bed. She grabbed it, utterly confused as to how and why a kidnapper would leave her victim's phone just next to her as she slept.

 _"Maybe she just thinks I'm her girlfriend after all?"_ She sighed, annoyed that she could gather nothing in her mind to remember how, why, and when she ended up in such a place with such a girl. _"No, I have a feeling this is much worse than I think it is. And usually, my gut feeling is right."_

She was taken away from her thoughts when her stomach grumbled again and the door opened soon after.

"Tiell-..a," Lilly paused awkwardly while calling her name. Tiella expected her to look surprised when she saw Lilly looking at her in full combat attire but all she got was an easy smile. "Tiella? Here's a pitcher and a glass, I'll leave it here on the desk for you. I'm sure you're quite thirsty. Once you're ready, I'll be out here with your favorites — sweet milk, coffee, and a special sandwich." The strange girl winked before leaving the room and shutting the door.

Tiella, unable to process _anything_ that was happening to her, simply stood in place staring at the door, half-convinced she was in a mental ward.

* * *

 _"She has amnesia."_

Lilly set the table for lunch as a way to distract herself from the turmoil in her heart. It was Tuesday, 18th of the 6th-month Remnant AD.

It had been a little over a week since the Grimm gathered in Vale. She remembered passing out not long after they'd driven the malevolent god out and she was only briefed about what happened after a day of sleeping by Ozpin.

She recalled waking up blind with a massive headache, a sore body, and an empty stomach that day.

Well... _"driven_ _out"_ wasn't exactly the right way she would describe what happened. She trusted Ozpin not to lie about the events she missed but he was simply reading a collated report. Well collated and quite detailed, but unless he added her statements, most of it was mere speculation — even including the statements of Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Team CFVY, and Glynda Goodwitch.

Moving back to over a week ago, to the time she entered the astral plane.

When she grabbed the god's soul and attempted to violently rip it out of Tiella's body, it clung strongly. So much so that she'd inadvertently carried Tiella along with her attack. It struggled, roughing it out until eventually, she lifted the soul by the neck into the air. He struggled a bit more and as he did, the smile on his face grew wider and wider.

 _"He was fighting back less because he wanted to get out of my hold but more because he disliked being dragged around so roughly."_

And in his last moments, he said something to her.

Something she couldn't quite make out.

Since then, she'd been trying to remember, but she always failed. And that was a huge problem — every time she forgot something, it was almost always because something made her forget. It could be blunt trauma to the head, hypnotism (which only happened once), or some other form of amnesia. Something was stopping her from remembering.

It wasn't as convoluted as having her memory altered. She recognized the black spots in her memory so vividly that she was convinced that something was blocking her from seeing them.

What she _did_ remember after he'd said his piece was that he _willingly_ disappeared.

He didn't go away because he was weakened.

He didn't leave because she fought her back.

She never managed to drive it out. And even if circumstances were different, she wouldn't doubt that she couldn't.

Throughout the _entire_ fight, he was playing them all like a damned fiddle. And that made her very, very, _very_ worried. As a person blessed with an untold number of talents — talents that she could and would nurture to extremes — she was used to having certain levels of control over a variety of things, even things she had yet to try. Because she was an extremely fast learner and was naturally talented, she'd grown accustomed to having leeway.

The leeway to do as she pleased.

It was dangerous to give one person _that_ much power, but Lillianne was never the type to use her skills with bad intentions. Multiple times, she'd used her skills for personal gain but it was never out of spite. She did things because she liked them while keeping in mind _never_ to use her talents for evil. Her parents taught her that those in power have a responsibility to do good for those who don't. That the reason she was privileged was in large thanks to those who were not, so it was her responsibility to act with generosity and nobility to such people.

Simply put, _noblesse oblige_.

But because something astronomically troubling and out of her capabilities to do anything against arrived, she'd been wrought with worry should it ever decide to return.

Would she be ready?

Will she ever be?

Even if she stood with her friends, would they have a chance?

Shaking her head, she dispelled such thoughts from her mind in favor of sitting down and waiting for Tiella to come out.

The possibility of Tiella climbing out the window to escape was there but given the situation, she strongly believed that Tiella would talk with her.

And so, while waiting, Lilly took out her scroll and tapped a few keys to send a message to a few people.

[Big problem.

Tielle has awoken but she has amnesia. She has no memory of who I am.

I don't know how much of her memory she can't remember yet but I'm trying to find out right now. We're having lunch. Do not approach her unless I deem it safe, depending on how far back her memory went, she could consider all of us as enemies. Big numbers would make her feel threatened and confused as well.

We don't want to agitate Tielle.

Except for you, Karen, you're basically her only family. Please come here ASAP.

To everyone else, I'm sorry. I know that we all want to speak with her, but now is not a good time. I hope you understand.]

 _"And... send."_

Just in time to see Tiella come out of her bedroom and place her scroll on the table.

The girl was still eyeing her warily but unlike before, she wasn't looking at her as if she was a nuisance. It was worse.

 _"Oh, dear..."_

She was looking to kill her given the chance.

 _"I hope it doesn't lead to that but..."_ She smiled at the cautious girl slowly walking to the table. _"Lunch comes first. I'm sure she's hungry."_

"Have a seat." Lilly gestured to a vacant one. "If you'd like more, I can cook more, though I might have to ask permission from Glynda before I could. Wouldn't want her to be surprised when she comes home without much to cook with left."

What greeted her unflinching easy smile was a pistol aimed right in the middle of her eyebrows.

"Eat it," Tiella spoke, no, _commanded_ coldly.

 _"Worried about poison? That's so like you."_

In a beat with a smile that rarely went away, she obliged. She took a moderate sip of the milk and coffee, then she took a bite out of her homemade Sloppy Tiella. As she chewed her sandwich, she gestured for Tiella to sit again to which, thankfully, the girl did. Though the pistol wasn't put away.

Warily, Tiella took double-takes between her and the food on the table without ever letting go of her finger on the trigger. The strange girl in a perpetual smile didn't seem to mind having a gun in her face if the way she relaxed with her chin on her palm was anything to go by.

 _"Or maybe she's a great actress."_

She sipped at the milk and was caught off guard when it was just _perfect_ for her. It was warm, which she loved despite feeling quite hot and sweaty just moments ago. And it was sweet, just like mother used to make. Next was the coffee, which was, again, just the way she liked — strong but sweet. It had hints of sweet milk too. Then came the monster bread mishmash that looked _so damned appetizing_.

Perhaps it was due to hunger, but the sandwich looked absolutely delicious. So much so that she couldn't help but salivate from the smell wafting to her nostrils.

Catching the look, Lilly smiled wider and went back to eating leisurely despite the pistol in her face.

"I know that one sandwich isn't enough for you, so would you like for me to prepare more?"

She glared at her again, grabbing the sandwich and taking a modest bite out of it.

 _"...!"_

Her eyes widened when the strong flavors of the sandwich spread through her mouth. It was _everything_ she ever wanted to eat all at once and the spiciness was just right.

And it was gone within seconds.

While she was licking her fingers clean, she heard a gleeful giggle across the table. So she sent the girl another glare, embarrassed that she was seen enjoying something a potential enemy prepared for her. She even considered that it was poisoned after all and that the antidote was hidden in one of the drinks or at least, somewhere in the room.

But she was dumbfounded when she saw the girl wiping a tear away with her finger as she sniffled.

"O-Oh!" Lilly bashfully ducked her head while looking back at Tiella, her lip quivering. "I-I'm sorry, I know that already find me a strange girl but..." She sniffled. "B-But... I-..." A tear left a streak down the girl's rosy and fair cheek. She wiped it away with a napkin and composed herself with a breath. "Again, my apologies. But nevermind that, why don't I answer your questions?"

Tiella eyed the girl strangely for a while before reluctantly lowering her pistol down. She didn't holster it and simply placed it on the table.

"Fine." She took a sip from her glass of milk. "I really don't give a shit who _you_ are, so fuck that. Just tell me where I am and how I ended up here before I leave. If you try and stop me... well, you're free to find out."

Lilly smiled widely though she was a little pained that her dear friend was speaking to her like so.

"Okay."

So she took out her smartphone out of her pocket and placed it in front of Tiella along with her scroll. Though, when she reached for her pocket, she heard a gun click and saw it aimed at her head again. Nonetheless, she carried on.

"Now, as I explain, I'll be showing you some photos here." Lilly clasped her hands as she sat upright. "But before we begin, do you mind if I asked you a question?"

Tiella thought over it for a second before placing her gun on the table. "Go ahead."

Lilly smiled gratefully. "Do you know anyone called Carol Stephanie Maxwell?"

* * *

At the Grand Clocktower...

The Headmaster's scroll pinged from a notification. Ozpin fetched it out of his pocket and checked the message he received while sitting on his very comfy headmaster chair. It didn't take him long to react in surprise when he did.

 _"Tiella is awake."_

He stood and looked out the window, casting his gaze down.

 _"It's been quite hectic since then."_

Hectic indeed.

Media outlets from all over the kingdom visited Beacon Academy to get a statement from the key players involved in saving Vale from the massive horde of Grimm, especially Lilly.

People were already calling her the Warrior Angel.

But that wasn't what they were looking for.

They wanted names, ages, affiliations, all sorts of information public and private alike. The only media outlet that managed to even come out with anything concerning her was the one responsible for reporting about the Grimm horde first.

About how they primarily worked outside the kingdoms' borders, aiding outlier villages and the like. How they were used to dealing with City-level Grimm by themselves.

The public _thirsted_ for information about them, so they looked everywhere. On the internet, in public forums, newspapers, some even went as far as going out in the outlier villages (even the frontiers) for at least a _single_ rumor about them.

A day after the Grimm were eradicated and the forest was cleansed, people found out that the one that led the operation was a girl named _Lillianne Vernillion_ , that she belonged to a team of three with the red-haired huntress, _Celestiella Margory_ , who held the Grimm back by herself until reinforcements arrived, and a boy, _Bardel Armas_ , who was reported to have gone toe to toe with the fabled Wyvern by himself.

Along with the legendary _Glynda Goodwitch_ , they quickly turned the tides and held the Grimm in check. Reports said that when the guild and the military arrived, just over a quarter of the estimated 10,000 Grimm was left, and it was all thanks to the quick response of Beacon Academy's professors and students in partnership with the dark horse of the day's events.

 _"Even now, reporters are still trying to get into the academy."_

Since that day, Ozpin closed Beacon Academy's doors to the public. Anyone who wasn't a student or a staff member was not allowed to get in without a pass or permit. It was an attempt to both protect the peace within the school grounds and to keep the trio from the public for a little while longer.

Ozpin understood that he can't keep the world from finding out about Avatāra, but at the very least, he hoped to prepare them for when the time came to formally introduce them to the public.

He was already being constantly asked about them by the council. So much so that he could feel them breathing down his neck right that moment.

"Is something the matter?" A voice called, taking him out of his mullings.

He turned and sat back on his chair. "Yes, it concerns Tiella."

"The mercenary girl?"

"Yes," He nodded. "Lilly just notified me of her finally regaining consciousness."

"That's great news!"

Ozpin looked at his good friend curiously. "That happy to finally reconnect old friends?"

"That," James sighed, "and that Ms. Maxwell can finally stop pestering me about meeting her friend. She was being quite unreasonable with me. She wanted to find her friend but she wouldn't give out any information about her until the day she saw the live broadcast of Lilly's performance."

Ozpin chuckled lightheartedly. "Where is she, anyway?"

"She said she wanted to visit Vale and go book shopping to keep herself entertained."

"Does she not like the selection in the library?"

"I believe that she's more of a fantasy and science fiction fan. She isn't into reading academically, though she has read some of Atlas Academy's medical studies and textbooks."

Ozpin sipped at his mug and nodded. "I see."

* * *

At the City of Vale...

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun."

A blonde-haired woman in a lab coat perused the books at a certain bookstore. She tied her hair in a low ponytail that reached the middle of her back and she wore black, thin, oval-rimmed glasses that gave her an intellectual look.

It was close to midday and she just finished eating a light snack on the way to the bookstore.

 _"Vale's a lot warmer than Atlas... but not enough that I need to get rid of my coat."_

As soon as she entered, she spent the next 20 minutes just looking at every single book that caught her eye. She checked out genres, titles, authors, prices — if a book piqued her interest and curiosity, she would take it out and read through the synopsis.

She took one off the shelves, _"The Progenitor... by...? Emma Nonn?"_ She read through the synopsis. _"Let's see... Four Kingdoms... Headmasters... truth hidden behind the darkness shed by the light... okay, this is VERY cryptic. I understood NONE of that."_ and she quickly shook her head and placed it back on the shelf. _"I like fantasy but this is too high fantasy for me. I'm betting this Nonn-girl is a huge fantasy nerd. Like the kind that'll cosplay as an elf or a magic knight at Comiket. She sounds like the kind of person to get along with Lilly though, but eh, everyone gets along with Lilly. It's just impossible to really hate the girl no matter what anyone says."_

She perused the shelves again, glancing from one title to another.

 _"Let's see..._ _Paradigm of the Rose by A Man With A Box? Strange name. Oh, interesting — a story based on a girl meeting alternate universe versions of herself."_

She shelved it took another out, doing the same as she did with The Progenitor.

 _"Through Her Eyes by Peroth. Interesting. A girl born with the dangerous power to control Grimm, oooohhh, spooky. Imagine that being a reality in Remnant, it'd be all kinds of issues just from her existence being public knowledge. And she wants nothing more than to be a huntress! Good luck, girl."_

And again.

 _"Remnant's Reclaimer by Hysterical Clerical Hijinks. Huntress goes back in time to meet a younger version of herself — cliche as cliche gets but it's a best-seller. Maybe the execution is good? I'll check it out next time."_ She thought while shelving the book. _"These are some really weird pseudonyms for authors — makes that Emma-something person look pretty normal with her name choice. Probably her real name. But these others though... maybe it's a Remnant thing and Emma is just the odd one out?"_

And again.

 _"A Silent Connection by Arthur S.G."_ She read. _"A normal-sounding author's name."_

She opened it up and went through the synopsis,

 _"Boy tries to find closure over his dead girlfriend and meets a mute girl going through something similar. Wow, cheesy. Oh, and the girl wants revenge but the boy just wants closure, interesting."_

and shut the book close before heading straight for the cashier.

"This one please." She smiled before the cashier who was a burly, bearded man.

He eyed the book and went on to silently do his job. While waiting, the woman felt a vibration on her left inner coat pocket — a notification on her scroll. While the cashier quietly packaged her purchase in a paper bag, she read the message and her eyes quickly widened. Her breathing hastened as her heart raced and she looked back at the cashier, who was almost finished, and her scroll back and forth.

After a second, she ran to the door. "I-I'm sorry, it's an emergency. I'm really sorry but my friend just woke up from a coma. I-" She held the door ajar to look back at the confused man. "I-I'll try to come back for the book later, I'm sorry but I have to go!" And ran out of the store.

Leaving the man to process her words slowly while placing the woman's purchase in the storage room at the back, hoping for the girl to return for it as she said.

* * *

The blonde-haired woman ran past passersby, almost bumping into them multiple times. She once jumped over a car as it skidded to a stop while she crossed the road on a green light.

She ran as fast as she could towards the docks going for Beacon Academy. Even when she could feel her pencil skirt stretch and her heels clacking noisily, she dared not slow down. When she arrived at the airship docks, a small crowd of reporters blocked her path. She halted before them, adjusting her glasses and fixed her hair before yelling in a commanding tone.

" _OUT OF THE WAY! I'M A DOCTOR AND I NEED TO GET TO BEACON!_ "

Her voice cut through the noise of the crowd. Some tried to voice their complaints against her but a fierce look from her shut them down before they could even begin. A line opened up for her as the people backed away. She strode through the crowd and just as she reached the very troubled security guards, a man grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Excuse me, but how does that give you permission to get into Beacon Academy?"

She slapped the hand away and took her ID out of her breast pocket, nearly shoving it in front of the man's face. "See that? _Carol Stephanie Maxwell, M.D.,_ happy? Now fuck off, I have a patient that needs my attention." She glared at the shrinking man despite her being about half a head smaller. "Or are you saying you want to be my patient as well?" She cracked her knuckles loudly as she clenched her teeth. "I can make arrangements for that _easily_."

The man was about to speak up again but another reporter held him back with a hand on his shoulder. "For your sake, just stop."

The man turned to look at the other person holding him off for a second and when he turned to give Carol another defiant look, he only saw her figure turning a corner for the airship docks headed for Beacon. Angrily, he shrugged the other man's hand off his shoulder.

"Why is _she_ so important?"

"You don't recognize the name?"

"No."

"I'm not surprised." He shook his head and shrugged noncommittally. "Carol Stephanie Maxwell, she's the doctor that came with General Ironwood last week. She isn't affiliated with Atlas Military or Atlas Academy but she has close connections with them. Rumors say that the soldiers there call her the Berserk Healer after she put a small platoon's worth of soldiers to sleep with her _bare fists_ in a training exercise before personally tending to them."

The man gulped, remembering how the woman cracked her knuckles loudly. If the other reporter hadn't stepped in...

"And there's an _even more_ exaggerated rumor saying she fought the _General_ in a fistfight and knocked him out cold for _days_. I don't know how true those rumors are, but it's better to be safe than sorry." The other man sighed, brushing his hair up in exasperation. "But something is going on at Beacon and the fact that they've been radio silent for over a week since then means they have something they don't want the public to know. And with how the General is here, it could be for reasons of state."

* * *

Within the Professor's room at Beacon Academy during lunch break...

"..."

Glynda Goodwitch stared at her scroll.

"..."

She'd been staring at it since lunch started and hadn't done much else. And it's been around 25 minutes since then.

"..."

She was conflicted — very much so.

It had been at least a _month_ since she last had a proper conversation with Tiella, because the last time they spoke, it turned into a shouting match. Granted, every person involved was under immense stress — emotionally, mentally, and physically — but she felt that she could have handled it better had she stayed calm and tried to understand Tiella's point.

She still blamed herself for Tiella running off that day, so a part of her wanted to keep avoiding Tiella for as long as possible. To stall for as much time as she could to prepare herself. But more than that, to see her again. She wanted so much to apologize, to kiss her and hold her hand again, to feel her hand on her hair, to finally go on that date.

But the _second_ she found out that Tiella had woken up? She was told that she had _amnesia_ , that she could be _dangerous_ , and that she _shouldn't_ approach her until Lilly said so.

Her blood boiled within as she held her scroll in a death grip, glaring at it with a very real possibility of it breaking. And as she sat there trying to look composed despite her feelings in great turmoil, Peach audibly let out a gasp after sipping orange juice from a glass. Her attention taken away from the pitiable communications device, she raised her younger colleague a quizzical brow.

"I don't know what that message is about, Professor, but if I had to guess, it's about Tiella, ain't it?" Peach smiled wryly.

Glynda felt a small lump in her throat as she consciously tried _not_ to look at her scroll by pocketing it away. She tried to swallow the lump but a voice from across the room surprised her.

"I say, love problems, Professor?" Port chimed in. "We're always here to listen should you ever need an ear or two!"

"I-" Glynda fixed her clothing and adjusted her glasses. "I shouldn't trouble you with my personal problems."

"Heavens, Glynda!" Port quickly cut in. "Are we not friends?"

"F-Friends?"

"Yes, friends! Are we not friends? Did we not just go through hell as comrades in arms just over a week ago?"

Glynda blinked at the man a few. "Of course, we are. Even before that."

"Then it should be fine to trouble us with your personal problems! That's what having friends is all about!"

"He's got a point, Professor." Peach easily agreed with a nod. "What do you think, Doctor? Shouldn't she be telling us about her problems when she's so troubled if she considers us her friends?"

"I do agree, of course." Oobleck nodded. "But forgive me for not speaking earlier, I simply do not have much experience concerning romance. So I don't believe I'd be much use. Though I am always prepared to lend an ear!"

"Never gone on a date before?" Peach queried.

"I have, of course! It's just that I find that time spent worrying about romance is time spent away from my research."

"Oh, leave him, Mags." Port dismissed Oobleck with a hand. "He's married to his work!"

"That _is_ true." Peach chuckled.

"And I don't believe there's anything wrong with that." Oobleck defended with arms crossed.

Glynda spent a moment just observing her colleagues, her comrades — her friends. She pressed her lips in a thin line, anxiously playing with her fingers while remembering the contents of the message she just received. She sighed hanging her head to the side. The act caught the others by surprise — they'd never seen her act so bothered, so troubled before.

She straightened her posture but cast her gaze to the floor.

"I just..."

She spent the next scant seconds letting her eyes wander about while the others patiently waited in silence for her to continue.

"I just wish to see her again — to speak with her again."

All three nodded without a word, though Glynda didn't quite see.

"On the day she..." She paused and shook her head. "The night before... I visited Tiella in the infirmary."

* * *

"Man, I wonder when Celeste is gonna wake up."

"No idea."

Yang sat next to Blake in the cafeteria. They were eating lunch together with the other half of their team, Ruby and Weiss.

The Xiao Long-Rose sisters planned to return to Patch a day after the semester started originally but since _that_ happened and because of all the hullabaloo outside of Beacon's walls — media outlets waiting in ambush of unsuspecting students and/or staff members the moment they set one toe outside of Beacon grounds — they didn't have the time nor the chance.

Even Weiss had to cancel her 4-day, 3-night vacation to Vale's only 5-star hotel called the Gingerbread Castle. She loved doing everything she did in Beacon, even the parts where she had to take care of her team being irresponsible students and trying to bring out their full potential. But even a perfectionist like her understood that she needed a break from everything.

And as someone who did not have much in the way of financial stability, Blake aimed to stay in their dorm, relying on the liberties provided by the school. And since she just finished going through a kingdom-wide threat, her more personal issues took priorities once more.

Yang balanced a pencil on her lips, Blake read a book to her left, Weiss read a travel magazine to Blake's left, and Ruby munched on cookies while reading a comic book beside Weiss. Across the table in front of Ruby sat Ren listening (and correcting) Nora about another dream. Pyrrha sat next to Nora simply eating her lunch, and finally, Jaune ate an apple while reading a comic book.

It was pretty obvious to anyone that they were all bored out of their wits, save for Nora, and perhaps Ren. They worried for Tiella, as all good friends were wont to do, but knowing Lilly and Glynda was there for her, they felt that that was all they could do — _worry_.

"Oh, yeah!" Yang started while pen spinning, calling the attention of her friends. "Didn't Dr. Maxwell say she was going to watch over our training today?"

There was also the doctor that came with General Ironwood who seemed to be a close friend to the mercenary trio, which could only mean one thing.

"Ugh, training _again?_ I need a break, Yang." Weiss plopped her head on the lunch table. " _Badly._ "

Ruby ran her hand in circles on Weiss' back in commiseration. Yang grinned in response, leaning on the table to give Weiss a better view of her shit-eating grin. "Sounds to me like you want another date with Dr. Maxwell in the sparring arena."

" _Stop._ " Weiss cut in. "Please, don't remind me." She rested her chin on the table and looked at Yang in tired frustration. "I only asked whether I could get a specified workout regime that would let me get stronger without getting too bulky because I feared that too much muscle would hinder my flexibility and agility." She sighed and hid her face on the table again. "Which, thankfully she did deliver, but... ugh!" She slammed her hands as she sat upright, her face filled with rage. "She's stricter than Tiella! And I didn't think it was _possible_ to be stricter than Tiella!"

Ruby and Yang looked at her wryly while the rest of Team JNPR was surprised by the outburst from their normally so prim and proper friend.

"Do your sit-ups like this, your push-ups like that. Clench your glutes better, don't do this, don't do that. Eat this, eat that, don't eat this, avoid too much of that." She listed off on her fingers while shaking her head in exasperation. "It's really very educational and I would highly recommend that you follow it as well but when it's presented to me all at once, it's just information overload and it becomes _very_ stressful! _Very stressful!_ "

"There, there." Ruby comforted with a few commiserating pats on her shoulder.

"She's even teaching me actual techniques from Flickering Arts that translate well into my fencing!" Weiss hid her face in her hands as she leaned on the table with her elbows. "She wasn't lying when she said that she knew _far_ better than Tiella. _Far_ better."

"Oh, woman up, Weiss," Yang spoke. "You'll be fine!"

"I know!" Weiss whined as she looked back at Yang. "I know I will!" She sighed, looking down on the table after feeling her exhaustion set in once again after her tirade. "I'm just complaining for the sake of complaining, I guess. I don't condone it as I truly believe it is highly unproductive but I have no other way to relieve my stress. My trip had to be canceled because I can't set foot out of Beacon without being swarmed by the media! It's worse than the times I was on tour for concerts because they want answers now more than ever!"

Ruby worried for her greatly distressed classmate, partner, and best friend. But after a few seconds of thinking, the proverbial light bulb lit her face up in a wide smile. "Sister," She got up slamming her hands on the table with a big grin on her face. "Friends," She gestured to Team JNPR. "Weiss!"

"Hey!"

"You know what we need?"

Weiss and Yang looked up to Ruby. Yang knew that look all too well and there was a 50/50 chance she would either enjoy what her sister was about to suggest or dread it. Weiss, meanwhile, simply looked up at her with a blank look.

"We need a vacation!"

Yang just looked at Ruby, urging her to continue and Weiss' inaudible groan was somehow the loudest thing they heard that day. Even Nora had to stop telling her story to Ren to give Weiss a sympathetic look.

Whether Ruby was oblivious or she simply chose to ignore it, her friends didn't know but she continued nonetheless. "Let's go to Patch!"

"To wha-"

"Where?"

Yang quickly rose up and slammed her hands on the table as well. "Ruby, you're a genius!"

"Hear that?" Ruby tilted her head up, hands on her waist, and looked down her nose on them. " _I'm_ a _genius!_ "

Weiss, on the contrary, didn't share the sentiment. "We're not allowed to leave the school because we might get hounded by the media, _genius._ "

And that quickly deflated the half-sisters. Nora slammed her hands pushing herself up the same way which got all her friends' attention. They waited a time for Nora to speak but she simply smiled at them.

"Uh... Nora?" Ruby prodded. "Got anything to say?"

"No, not really," Nora smiled, the picture of innocence. "You were all doing it and I wanted to slam my hands on the table too!"

And the rest of them groaned while planting their faces on the table.

All except one.

Yang tilted her head sideways to give her partner, who had been busily _reading_ her book, a look.

"Hey, Blake."

"Hm."

Yang got up and looked over Blake's shoulder to peek at her book. "What'chu doin'?"

"Just reading."

"Smut again?"

"Mhm."

"Which part are you at?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Blake."

"Hm."

"Blaaaake?"

"Hm?"

Yang poked Blake's cheek a few times. "Remnant to Blake?"

Blake sighed, putting her book down with her thumb sandwiched within as a makeshift bookmark. "Yes," She grabbed Yang's hand and gave her a look. "Yang?"

Yang grinned widely. "Do you like what you're reading right now?"

Blake stared back at Yang as if she just grew a second head. "Yes."

"Can you tell me about the part you're reading right now?"

"Tell you where I'm at?"

"Yes."

Blake continued staring at Yang as if she just grew a _third_ head.

"Fine." She reluctantly relented.

She opened her book and skimmed through the words, silently reading a few before she blinked her eyes widely and looked back between Yang and her book. She swiftly shut her book and slammed it down the table, garnering attention from her dear friends — face red up to her ears.

Silently, she glared at Yang as if willing her to turn to smoke with the power of her psyche while the offending blonde herself was simply grinning back at her smugly. Their stare-off lasted a few seconds more but alas, Blake Belladonna, unfortunately, did not have the ability to change another person from one phase of matter to another with a look.

She reckoned that she'd have to be a bit more creative and physically involved in the process if she wished to turn her partner into vapor.

With that in mind, she dismissed her future plans for revenge and scoffed through her nose with a pout, cheeks still a vibrant red. "What do you need?"

Yang chuckled, winking at her cheekily. "It's just that you've been quiet the entire time. Did you even hear Weiss rant about her new training routine from Dr. Maxwell?"

Blake paused in thought for a bit before nodding vaguely. "Yes."

Yang gave her a raised brow and a knowing half-smile.

Blake fought with a stare but eventually wilted, shyly hiding her face from Yang as she looked away. "No."

"That's totally cute, Blakey." Yang pointed with a wink. "So, what were you thinking abo-"

And a ring interrupted. Searching the source, they all found that it was Ruby's scroll going off. The girl quickly fetched and answered the call with a hurried, "H-Hello?"

[Ruby! Are you and Yang free right now?]

"Uh..." Ruby looked around before answering. "Yes, I mean, we just finished lunch and we're mostly done with homework since we're still stuck here."

[Good, good. There's a bit of a situation concerning Tielle.]

"Celeste!?"

Her yell alerted the rest of her friends and some were quick to fire off questions.

"Celeste!? Is she awake!?"

"What about Tiella?"

"Is she doing well?"

Ruby quickly shushed them down before returning to her call. "S-Sorry about that, could you say that again?"

[I _said_ she's awake but she has _retrograde amnesia_. I'm the only person she knows right here, right now.]

"Retro _what?_ "

[Just bring Yang with you and meet me in Room 201 in the East Wing Dormitory. I'll tell you more when you get here. Bring Yang and _only_ Yang, understood?]

The call dropped and Ruby was left dumbfounded while the others bombarded her with questions. Yang grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a light shake.

"Ruby!" Earnest lilacs bore into confused silvers. "Who was it and what was the call about?"

Ruby shook her head lightly and reciprocated her sister's gaze with an earnest look of her own. "It was Dr. Maxwell. She told me that Celeste has amnesia and that she wants you and me to go there."

"Amnesia!?" Nora repeated incredulously with both hands on her cheeks in shock.

Weiss quickly stood from her seat. "We're coming too."

Ruby, in a rare moment of authority, " _Only_ me and Yang." shot Weiss down with a look that made the girl pause. "I'm sorry, team — friends." Her eyes softened apologetically. "I want to bring you with me but..."

"It's fine," Blake spoke. "We," She placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder, "understand. If Tiella has amnesia, being crowded around by people she doesn't recognize will only make her feel cornered and stressed out."

* * *

Ruby and Yang were quick to run down the corridors, uncaring about the common school rules that they broke and the people they bumped into. The others wanted to join — and Ruby honestly wished she could bring them — but the urgency in Maxwell's voice made her relent.

 _"'Just promise to tell us all about it when you're done, okay?'"_ Ruby remembered Weiss' words before they left. _"Don't worry, partner. I won't forget!"_

So they rushed as hastily as they could. And within a minute, they were standing in front of the specified apartment with their professor, Glynda Goodwitch.

"Ms. Rose? Ms. Xiao Long? What are you doing here?" Glynda asked, pausing from opening the door.

"Uh..." Ruby stammered.

"We were asked to come here by Dr. Maxwell." But Yang was there to save her.

Glynda gave them a curiously raised brow. She looked down at the knob for a moment and clicked her tongue with a bite of her lower lip before eventually opening the door with a resigned nod.

"Very well. Come in."

"O-Okay."

"Didn't I tell you to calm down?" All three heard a voice say from within the apartment.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't sure I could trust her even with your word in it. How the fuck was I supposed to make sure you weren't being forced to say what she wants you to say?" A familiar voice replied.

Ruby and Yang followed while Glynda led the way into the apartment. They didn't know what to expect but they certainly weren't expecting Tiella getting hit in the head by Dr. Maxwell while Lilly stood the furthest from Tiella in the room.

"Do I look like I can't take care of myself? Does she look like she would do something like that? Jesus Christ, Tielle, I know how you had practically zero fucking trust in anyone but I thought you'd at least trust _me_ , your fucking partner!"

"Tsk." Tiella looked away with an eye roll. "How the fuck was I s'pposed to make sure you weren't compromised!? You're not _invincible_ , Karen! I've had to save your fatass a few times before in case you _for-fucking-got!_ "

"Oh, _I'm_ the one forgetting now?" Karen dramatically reeled her head back in disbelief before leaning up Tiella's face again. "Am _I_ the one with the fucking _amnesia_ here? Can you fucking remember her name then?"

"Damn it!" Tiella loomed over Karen. "I said I was sorry, didn't I!? I can't say what I don't know!"

"Well, your apology sucks ass!"

"WHAT THE FUCK MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?"

"A PROPER ONE!"

"Stop! Please!" Lilly's cry tore through their argument. She looked to be on the verge of tears but not a single drop dared to spill. "Karen, I'm happy that you're getting angry for my sake but please, this isn't her fault. I don't wish to see you fight, especially when it's the first time you've spoken to each other in a long time. No one here's at fault. Okay?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Tiella glared in naked indignation. "I don't need help from a fucking princess like yo-"

"Karen, don-!" Lilly yelled with a hand outstretched, appearing just steps away from the two after crossing the room in a blink.

And almost instantly, the tall woman's head flew back as she fell to the floor with a thud. Her nose bled and Karen's fist was raised. The punch took all by surprise, even Lilly who saw the fist coming.

"Amnesia or not, I won't tolerate her speaking to anyone like that." Karen gnashed her teeth while crossing her arms, her eyes glaring down on the unconscious form of Tiella. She turned and gave Lilly a stern look. "Especially when she's speaking to _you_. I don't mind the usual banter being thrown around because that's just us, it's normal. But I know that _you_ know when she's looking at someone she really hates.

I'm sure she'll thank me when she remembers everything, Lilly. You're all very close friends with each other so I'm sure she'll deeply regret how she's being hostile to you right now — better stop her before she says even more things she'll later regret."

Karen picked Tiella up by the arm with a hand and threw her onto the sofa almost effortlessly. Lilly sighed and approached the sofa, placing a gentle hand over Tiella's forehead with a pained expression. "Thank you, Karen."

"Don't mention it." Karen shrugged. "I know you won't but you better tell me when she starts speaking to you like that again. I'll knock her out."

Lilly looked back at her with a weak smile, a clear message that she appreciated the offer but nonetheless won't take it up just as Karen guessed. She was a good girl like that, always making sure not to trouble others if she could handle it. Karen knew full well how hurtful the way Tiella spoke and acted towards Lilly — she considered Tiella as her closest friend, after all.

"Please don't. You're a doctor, Karen. You should know how harmful it is for an amnesiac to be constantly suffering blunt head traumas."

"She's suffered worse head injuries and she has her Aura, she can take it."

"Karen, please."

"You know, Lilly." Karen took a seat by the dining table. "You dote on her so much that if it wasn't for me, you'd have spoiled her rotten already."

"I just know that there's a better way of handling this, okay?"

"Like what? Letting yourself get showered by verbal abuse?" Karen glared. "And if I had come in a second later, I just fucking _know_ you'd have let her break your arm when I saw you caught in her hold." She scoffed hard. "Can you imagine? You? At your level now? Caught in that fucker's hold with your face on the table like that?"

"Karen, your language is returning." Lilly attempted to change the subject.

"You can beat her sorry ass to a pulp with your hands and legs tied together!" But Karen didn't care and simply carried on. "Worse, you almost let your arm break just so she could feel better about her situation! I know you said you didn't want to agitate Tielle but _come fucking on,_ girl! I thought you were smarter than that!"

"I can heal it in 15 minutes depending on the severity of the damage," Lilly muttered, understanding how weak her argument was. "A-And," She continued before Karen could speak again. "you were wrong about one thing." She raised her index finger.

"Really?" Karen gave her a disbelieving brow raised.

Lilly nodded seriously. "She doesn't have Aura right now." The smile on her face all but disappeared.

""What?""

The surprised voices came from two different blondes in the room. One who'd been speaking with Lilly the entire time and a much taller one who'd been standing stock still in the hallway trying to grasp the situation without butting in.

Glynda rushed to Tiella's side while Karen swiftly stood from her chair and did the same. Tiella's nose still bled — it wasn't broken, but the damage was worse than Karen thought. She clicked her tongue and took her white cloth glove off, placing her warm, callused hand directly where she dealt her strike.

"That explains why she was knocked out so easily."

And almost as soon as she'd touched Tiella's nose, she removed her hand and wore her glove once more. She took a napkin out of her inner breast pocket and wiped down Tiella's nose, revealing to all that her wound had healed as if she was never injured.

No bleeding, no swelling, no bruising.

"Had she had her Aura up, she'd have simply reeled her head back, yes." Glynda agreed, though her mind wandered to the elephant in the room.

With Tiella's face all cleaned up, all expected her to wake up sooner rather than later. With that, all eyes turned to Lilly.

"How does she not have her Aura up?" Karen asked.

Lilly was to answer but one look at Glynda made her keep silent, allowing the professor to speak for her.

"Her amnesia may be the reason." Glynda began softly, half sure of her speculation. "Her soul is at odds with her mind."

Karen could not help a loud sigh escape her as she hung her head low before promptly standing up to acknowledge the sisters by the hallway. She gave them a look and another smaller, weaker sigh.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," She said while urging them to come in with a beckoning hand.

Ruby remained unmoving until Yang gave her a light push from behind with her hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"It's..." Yang peeked past Karen to look at Tiella before returning her gaze. "It's no problem." She gave her sister a quick look, noticing that she still looked a little confused over the situation. "So... this looks serious."

Karen a little sideways nod as she pursed her lips but otherwise said nothing.

Coughing, Ruby urged herself to speak. "Doctor, what did you need us for?"

"Right..." Karen looked down at Glynda who knelt by Tiella. "I was hoping to take Tielle out of Beacon, somewhere rural. Lilly told me that you're from an island just like that."

"Yeah," Yang answered. "Patch is a little island just an hour and a half's ride from here via airship."

"Great," Karen nodded. "I wanted to ask you a pretty big favor. Maybe let us know where in Patch we could stay until her memory returns. Because from what I got here, her memory only goes as far up to around... a little over a year from now and that was a really, really bad time for her — but that's just a guess."

"Okay," Ruby nodded. "But why look for somewhere rural?"

"More often than not, we lived outside of big cities." Karen took a seat once more. "We're mercenaries, as I'm sure you've been told." Earning nods from the sisters. "So we avoided places where security is higher. That isn't to say we never entered big cities, it's just that with how notorious we became over time, militaries and politicians tend to sniff us out faster the longer we lingered. Especially after the incident with the Vatican."

"The Vatican?" Yang repeated.

Karen waved it off. "A holy place where we're from. We took a job there and when all hell broke loose, our employers pinned the blame on us, using us as scapegoats — especially Tielle. The public learned about it, riots were everywhere demanding Tielle's head. We had to lay low for a long time because of it. It was actually our last big job until Lilly hired us." Karen's cold, sharp gaze, sent down the floor was chilling even when it wasn't directed at the young girls. "We got duped back then. We were meant to be scapegoats. I knew something was wrong about the job way before we started but we still took it even after we talked it out."

All stayed silent save for Tiella's soft breathing and the clock's ticking.

Karen leaned forward with her elbow on her crossed knees, observing her partner's sleeping visage with a solemn look. "We were young and wanted a reputation of our own — just us two."

The silence was nerve-wracking to the sisters. Ruby stood fidgeting with her fingers while Yang couldn't take her eyes off of Tiella as she ran a hand through her blonde mane.

"Anyway," Karen perked up. "That's a story for another time." She stood and walked up to Yang and Ruby. She placed a hand on her waist and smiled at them apologetically. "So, can I count on you for that favor? I'll be sure to pay you both back."

"Of course!" Came the sisters' instant reply. "If it's to help Celeste, then we'll do anything we can!" Ruby eagerly offered.

"Yeah! And, actually, you could just stay with us too."

"Really, they could!?" Ruby looked up at Yang with a wide expectant smile.

"Yeah! Didn't I already ask dad if we could bring our friends over for the break?"

"Oh, you're right."

"But," Yang held her chin in thought, "I guess I'll have to call him again since the reason will be different this time."

"Please do," Karen pleaded. "If your father declines, we'll understand. It's one thing to invite a friend over to have fun and relax and another for this kind of reason."

Lilly, who'd remained silent watched with a smile while her hand gently caressed Tiella's forehead. She felt the sleeping girl shift in her touch and when she looked down, she quickly removed her hand when she saw the girl looking at her. Glynda, who'd squatted beside Tiella while watching the sisters' talk with Karen, felt Tiella sit upright.

They expected her to scorn at them, but instead, the girl simply sagged her shoulders in her seat while avoiding everyone's gaze.

"So, amnesia."

"Yes," Karen answered.

"Where am I?"

"Before we answer that, tell me, what was the last thing you remember before waking up?"

"Your fist on my nose."

" _Before_ that." Karen smiled threateningly with a throbbing vein up her forehead. "Sounds to me like you want it to happen again." She sighed, dismissing her partner's flippancy. It was good, much better than open hostility. It was an indication that she'd managed to calm down enough that she wasn't thinking of murdering everyone in the room save for her. "What's the date that you last remember?"

Tiella shifted on the couch, placing her feet on the floor. "July 8th, 2017."

Karen was caught frozen in shock. Her immediate reaction was to sit by Tiella and pull her head close to her chest in an embrace. At any other moment, Tiella'd have cracked a comment about Karen's ample bosom, but she didn't quite feel it appropriate after the mess she did.

The act caught all but Lilly by surprise as they'd never seen anyone but Lilly act so intimately with the tall girl. Even Glynda felt a tiny pinprick of jealousy — one that she very much desperately pushed down and out of her mind lest there be consequences of the unsavory kind.

"Karen, can you stop?" Tiella fought weakly. "I don't need you patronizing me, didn't I tell you already?"

"Shush, stupid." Karen rested her chin atop Tiella's head. "I'm sorry."

"For punching me?"

"Yes."

"What about those times you made me tap dance with your pistols because you thought it would be good footwork training?"

"I already apologized to you for that." Karen sighed. "And, to be fair, you did become good with your footwork."

"Well, I don't remember."

"Har, har."

"What about that time you stole my bottles of milk? Particularly the last ones from every time I buy a pack?"

"...I already apologized to you for that."

Tiella looked up and met Karen's nervous eyes with a dubious gaze. "You're lying."

"...Am not."

Tiella squinted her eyes at her partner. "We'll see once my memory returns."

Karen started sweating bullets while avoiding Tiella's gaze, though she didn't let go of the hug. Tiella sighed in resignation while breaking away. She gave everyone else in the room a cursory glance.

"Is everyone here an ally then?" She asked with still a hint of doubt.

"Nope." Karen popped the 'p' with a tiny half-grin, earning surprised looks from the rest and a hostile gaze from Tiella once again. But before the tall redhead managed to stand and enter a combat stance, Karen spoke again. "They're your friends." And it broke all of Tiella's tension.

Tiella looked at Karen as if she'd just spurted the stupidest thing she'd heard all year. "Yeah, and you really need those glasses, I'm sure."

Karen threw a pillow at Tiella's face and stuck her tongue out at her. "It's true, stupid." She gave Glynda, who just stood from the floor, a quick look and grinned back at Tiella. "Well, except one, I guess."

"What?" Dumbfounded, Tiella couldn't help but eye each person in the room with wary eyes. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"Language, Tielle." Karen lightly chided. "I'm saying that one of the people in this room is more than just a friend." Her words struck like a lightning bolt to Tiella and before she could mutter anything else, Karen continued. "No, I'm _not_ talking about friends with benefits and no, you don't have those here. Yes, you _do_ have a best friend here but no, that's not what I meant. Yes, you _dingdong_ , I'm talking about a girlfriend. An actual one too." Karen whistled, clearly impressed.

Tiella took a moment to pause and take another look at the people in the room. With a sigh, she leaned back on the sofa and sat cross-legged. "I'll bite. Who? And do you have a light?" She got a disapproving look from Karen which she simply dismissed. "Lemme guess, is it her?" Tiella pointed at Lilly with a thumb.

Karen grinned. "Hey, Lilly, are you?"

"No," Lilly graciously shook her head with a smile. "Like Karen, I'm straight."

"Though, she _is_ your best friend," Karen added.

"I thought _you_ were my closest friend." Tiella wondered with a curious brow.

"Let's face it, Tielle. We're more like sisters than friends, right?"

"I guess." Tiella paused to give Lilly a look. She kept her distance by taking a seat on the sofa and seemed a little timid. She felt a little bad with the way she treated her supposed best friend, but it just hadn't clicked with her yet, so she paid her no mind. "Is it blondie over there?" She looked past Glynda to give Yang a once-over.

"Cold." Karen teased.

That left Ruby and Glynda.

She gave Karen an incredulous look, wondering whether she even _had_ a girlfriend in the first place. It wasn't the first time Karen played tricks on her. A look at the smaller, bespectacled blonde told her that she was enjoying Tiella's dilemma immensely, so it wasn't too farfetched to think so. But then her supposed best friend hadn't spoken against it, so she decided to trust Karen for a little while longer.

Tiella eyed the little brunette with sharp eyes and she could see how she squirmed under her gaze. Switching, she met the taller blonde's gaze and she could easily tell how nervous she was with a glance. There was also a faint blush on her cheeks and she kept glancing back at her.

She didn't want to believe it but she guessed anyway. "Is it her?" She gave Glynda a wry smile. "Is it you?"

And silence was her answer. Karen stayed grinning, Lilly was content with simply watching, Yang was amusedly looking at the two, and Ruby felt awkward as the youngest person in the room.

Glynda, meanwhile, avoided her gaze and adjusted her glasses while the faint blush on her cheek only deepened. "Y-Yes."

"You've gotta be fucking shitting me," Was Tiella's instant unfiltered reply.

" _Tielle!_ " Karen slapped her on the elbow.

Glynda's complexion quickly paled. Her heart hammered as she fought to keep her tears from seeping out of the corner of her eyes but to no avail. She turned her back and hid her face from view as frustration welled inside her.

Karen chastised her in harsh whispers. "That's your lover! She took care of you your entire time here!"

Tiella whispered harshly back at Karen's ear, but due to the deafening silence in the room, all heard every word she said.

"You're shitting me! She's leagues above me! Look at her! Are you seriously not fucking with me? Look at her and tell me she isn't leagues above me! Karen, she's _too fuckin' hot!_ "

As soon as the words escaped her mouth, all eyes turned to her in surprise with their mouths hung agape. Even Glynda who was just about ready to bolt into the bathroom to wash her face.

"Wait," Tiella panicked — blushing, she glared at everyone that dared to meet her gaze, "did ya'll hear me!? Oi! Look me in the eye and say you didn't hear nuthin'! Bastards! Ya'll ain't sayin' shit to anyone about this, ya hear me!? No one's comin' outta here alive until you swear it with your lives!"

* * *

They took a minute or two to calm down and gather their bearings after Tiella's rather violent way of covering up her embarrassment. In that time, Lilly asked Glynda if she could borrow the kitchen again so she could prepare light snacks as they all discussed their next steps moving forward.

Karen and Lilly explained that the time spent in Patch would be used to find out more about Tiella's amnesia — how it happened in the first place and how they were to rectify the problem. Hopefully, Tiella's condition wasn't permanent and that her memories would have returned by the time the second semester started, which was still a little over two weeks at the time.

As they spent the next few hours chattering, asking each other about the hows and whys of various things big and small, everyone — Lilly included — did their best to avoid landmine questions.

Questions like, "Why is that particular moment in time significant to Tiella and Karen?"

"What happened in the place called the Vatican?"

"What happened after that?"

"Is it related to why Tiella was so scornful?"

Nonetheless, even with those questions at the back of their minds, they managed to enjoy the time spent. It was quite amusing trying to explain how Semblances and Essentias worked to her again. She was understandably unwilling to believe such fantastical notions, but when Glynda made pillows float with a swish of her finger, Ruby appeared from one corner of the room to another in a burst of rose petals, Yang set fire to her hair while her eyes turned red, Tiella had no choice but to accept it.

The next amusing thing that happened was when she was shown what Essentia was and how it worked.

Then came the not so amusing part of explaining what _her_ Essentia was to her.

Dusk came as the hours passed. Ruby and Yang returned to their friends and explained the situation as best they could.

Lilly went back to her dorm room where Bardel laid asleep. It had been the first time in a long while since he exhausted himself using Iron Will, so while Lilly was genuinely worried for him, she fully believed he'd be up in another day or two at most.

Karen, a day after arriving at Beacon, stayed with Lilly and Bardel since they were all of the same team originally. Karen's services were also required for the sake of Bardel's treatment. Aura did wonders, as Tiella so aptly put, but it wasn't all-powerful. With Lilly as an exception, no one — no matter how powerful their Aura was — could ever make a full recovery after bathing in a sea of flames and Grimm blood when relying _only_ on one's passive healing.

But with Karen's Essentia, Healing Touch, one's chances for survival rose significantly. Her Essentia, essentially, strengthens and accelerates a person's recovery rate via skin contact with her. She'd used the skill so much that changes in her body had been observed too.

She tired and hungered less. Small to moderate injuries healed in an instant — fatal ones took hours. She'd become highly resistant to all manner of poisons to the point that she was almost immune to them. It was why she would need a literal boatload of the strongest alcohol for her to even get tipsy. Nor would caffeine have any effect on her.

It was on a level that was arguably the strongest compared to the rest of Avatāra's members, though that was yet to be tested.

Could she, in the maximum capacity of Healing Touch, survive Critical mode Bardel's point-blank Tsar Bomba?

It was a question that had been floating around between the scientists and archaeologists on Earth but none dared to test it. It was unethical, but most importantly, it was downright dangerous.

It was also why when offered a chance to have her Aura unlocked, she declined. She greatly feared for her mortality in the sense that she might _never_ die. To her, having her Aura unlocked would only be acceptable in the _absolute worst-case scenario_.

Like, the end of the world and there was no one left to stop it except her or something of similar magnitude.

But those questions and scenarios are topics for another time.

With the two left alone in the apartment, an awkward tension took over.

One was feeling quite timid and coy after putting her foot in her mouth while the other didn't know how to interact with her.

Should she be glad that Tiella wasn't mad at her?

Should she be disappointed that her apology wouldn't mean much if she did it before her memory returned?

Would apologizing before her memory returned even make sense to the girl?

Alone in a room with her significant other but she didn't recognize her. After all she'd been through — it was torturous to her heart and mind, to say the least.

She'd also been having nightmares.

Nightmares of that ashen white visage, adorned by black cracks webbing around eyes with black scleras and woeful gold irises. Haunting her, hurting her. She'd nary a good night's sleep since then.

 _"At least she isn't hostile towards me."_ Glynda thought to keep her chin up.

They sat in the living room with Glynda on the couch and Tiella on the sofa, each awkwardly trying not to look at each other, or at least get caught looking at the other. Glynda was drinking tea while Tiella had a warm glass of milk.

"H-How are you feeling?" Glynda asked without meeting the girl's eyes. "Do you feel tired? Hungry? Would you like a bath?"

Surprised, the sudden question made Tiella flinch in her seat. "I-... uh, I'm good. Good. 'Cept, for, y'know, the whole amnesia thing..."

"I see."

"You don't have to..." Tiella pursed her lips as she chose her next words. "You don't have to be extra considerate of me or anything. You can just leave me to my devices, I'll try not to do anything bad like before. I'm, umm... s-sorry about that."

"It is... fine." Glynda paused in thought. "I'm being considerate of you how I usually am when we're alone."

"O-Oh! So this is just normal?"

"Well..." Glynda blushed meeting Tiella's eyes for a second before looking away. "Usually you'd ask me what we're having for dinner by now. I'm positive you're hu-"

And a grumbling sound tore through their conversation like a hot knife through butter.

"-ngry already..."

Glynda looked at Tiella with a wry smile while the girl tried to make herself as small as possible on the couch, not meeting her eyes. For the first time in what felt like a long time, Glynda felt a genuine laugh escape her lips.

She felt at home.

She stood, suppressing her chuckle from becoming too loud, and headed for the kitchen while pulling her apron from the clothes rack with her Telekinesis.

Tiella froze when she saw the apron float towards Glynda for a second but she quickly reminded herself that that's just how it was. She recalled how Lilly, with a heavy heart, told her about Hollowing.

 _"The power to force heavy fatigue on everyone within a large radius."_ She clenched her fist a few times. _"It's strong. Too strong. If I had that power back in my previous missions, things would have ended differently. I'd be untouchable."_

She watched as kitchenware floated here and there while Glynda cooked.

 _"But... that Lilly girl said that it's a power born of our deepest wishes."_

She hugged her knees and hid herself up to her nose behind them.

 _"So what does that make me?"_

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I am back earlier this time! Wooo! 2 chapters in the same month! Wow! I feel like I'm back in my own groove._

 _And Tiella's back too! Did you miss her? No? Oh, okay._

 _Let's just go to the comments!_

 _A dear anonymous guest had a blast going through this story until chapter 10. And, uh, I guess, I'm happy to be of service? I already answered that kind of comment back at an earlier chapter when a previous anonymous guest spoke of how much of a huge cringey/edgy hypocrite Tiella was in the beginning — and, to be fair, I fully agree. Tiella IS a huge cringey/edgy hypocrite, but that's nothing new to you guys, right?_ _So, no need to answer that here again if you didn't ignore my ANs up to now._

 _Zapper Frost: Thank you very much for confirming that for me! I'll stick to what I've already established in Lost Star but any other RWBY fanfic I write after this will keep that fact in mind._

 _ArthurSG: Thank you, I'm happy you enjoyed this chapter despite the long wait! To answer your question, Lilly, reckless as she may appear, is actually one that dislikes risks. So when a new ability pops up in her arsenal, she's reluctant to use it on a real battlefield without having any idea whatsoever what would happen. She may have known what it was but she didn't know how it would work._

 _0-Tengatsu-0: Ohoho! Someone who appreciates the wonders of mythological literature! I won't confirm nor deny your speculation, just know that I appreciate that it caught your eye. Thanks again for liking the fight scenes and characterization! After a year of writing, I'm confident to say that action scenes and dialogue are two of my strongest points._

 _Okay then! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I really missed writing this mood. It's light and fluffy with a hint of bittersweetness to it and I'm hoping I delivered it well._

 _Oh, and, do give those fanfics I inserted a try if you're interested and haven't seen them yet!_

 _ **The Progenitor** by yours truly (shameless self-advertising right here if you're interested in a **Dark Souls** x **RWBY** crossover, but this is on hiatus until further notice, sorry!)_

 _ **Paradigm of the Rose** by **AManwithaB0x** (RWBY, I really like this one! The idea feels fresh within the fandom when I first encountered it. Though, I haven't read up to the latest chapter yet.)_

 _ **Through Her Eyes** by **Peroth** (RWBY, and this one's pretty famous, actually. If you want better characterization than the one I'm doing here, go give this a read. The characters here feel alive and real and the world-building is fascinating stuff!)_

 _ **Remnant's Reclaimer** by **Hysterical Clerical Hijinks** (RWBY, for a time, this was THE most followed and most favorited story on RWBY FF.)_

 _ **A Silent Connection** by **ArthurSG** (RWBY, since he's still advertising my story in his fic, I thought it'd be nice to advertise his again here! I'm not doing it just to be nice, I'm saying that his work has potential!)_

 _Anywho, that's it for now! I'll see you in the next chapter._


	36. Chapter 36: First Steps

—09:48 hours, Wednesday, 19th of the 6th month, 1215 Remnant AD.

Xiao Long Residence, Patch Isle.

* _Thunk_ *

An ax fell swiftly, cleaving a moderately-sized piece of wood down in half.

Tiella grabbed another log and placed it on the chopping block. She propped it right-side-up and rested her ax on her left shoulder. She huffed through her nose and wiped the sweat off her brows and forehead with the white towel draped around her neck. She grabbed the shaft of the ax, rubbing and testing her grip on it for a second.

Her hands had gone sweaty due to working under the sun for the past 15 or so minutes — not to mention the humid weather of the island. It's slightly different from the dry, polluted air in the city of Vale. That wasn't to say that Vale's air was particularly dirty, but given that it was an industrialized city making use of Dust as its main power source — which is a highly volatile substance — the air could stand to be cleaner, to say the least.

In contrast, the air in Patch was cleaner, though a little saltier in large thanks to the sea surrounding it on all sides. The scent of humid, salty air, the sound of birds chirping hidden behind leaves in the forest, the soft bellows of the wind weaving through the trees — all of it felt nostalgic and drove a sense of "homeliness" to Tiella's senses.

In her words, Patch was " _fucken' bucolic_ " — a term she learned from Karen in their younger teens.

Done with basking in the island's ambiance, Tiella gripped the ax with both hands and raised it just above her head. She took a second to eyeball the log in front of her and swung forward, letting gravity do most of the work as the ax fell sharply with another thunk, cleaving the log cleanly in half.

It was a trick she learned from her old mercenary team. Back when she was just starting her training, she wasn't the 195 cm tall, muscled giant she was known for. She was still just a 158 cm tall 10-year old. Karen — 136 cm tall at the time — thought she was still too tall for a girl just a few months older than her but Tiella liked it better that way.

Karen was great at a lot of things — she was smart, strong, and stylish. She knew for a fact that she had good looks and was more than willing to make good use of them but she always wanted to be just a tad taller.

That desire never really went away.

So when Tiella quite literally grew to have an advantage over Karen, she always found a way to rub it in her face.

But despite the height advantage, 10-year old Tiella didn't have the strength to properly wield even the smallest chopping ax they had. She was still recovering from the abuse she took day in and day out since living with her uncle at that time, so she spent a little over a year focusing on recuperating and rehabilitation while simply observing how the small mercenary group worked.

Little Tiella was an eager learner, but understandably, she was physically weak — though that somehow didn't affect her growth as a child. So, seeing as their newest recruit was having trouble with the simplest tasks, good Ol' Bobby taught her how to make good use of the forces around her instead of fighting against it.

Basically, if one were to let an ax fall down with nothing but a little push and the pull of gravity to aid its quick descent, one would be able to cleanly chop a log in half as long as the blade was angled correctly during the fall. It took young Tiella a few days to get it right but she eventually did it. And when she did, she was ecstatic — quite literally jumping for joy, the picture of innocence.

Since then, she'd taken a liking to chopping wood as a pastime and was always eager for the task even when she didn't have to.

She took a deep breath and let out an easy sigh. Sweat ran down the sides of her face again, so she quickly wiped it all off with the towel draped on her shoulders. She looked to her right and found that she still had a small number of logs left to chop.

She stretched her neck to the side and gave her exposed shoulder a few thumps then did the same on the other. She rolled her shoulders front and back before resuming her work of chopping the rest of the firewood in half.

For the next 2 minutes, the rhythmic thunk of chopping wood mixed harmoniously with the ambient forest that surrounded the cozy residence of the Xiao Longs.

After finishing her work, she placed the head of the ax on the chopping block and leaned on it with both hands flat on the butt while resting her chin atop. With how tall she was, she felt a little awkward with her balance, so she put one boot up on the chopping block and just shut her eyes for a moment of respite.

 _"This is nice."_

She basked in the glow of the warm sun while letting herself be enveloped by the gentle sea-forest breeze. And she was content with enjoying the bucolic moment until she heard footsteps and wolf-whistling that disrupted the ambiance she was so keen on relaxing in until much later. She opened her eyes and saw Karen looking at her through the top of her lenses while wearing a cheeky half-smile.

She sighed deeply, hanging her head low before opening her eyes and raising her head to see the offending blonde.

"Fuck you want?" Tiella asked tiredly.

And the reply she got was a pebble in between her eyebrows.

Her head flew back a bit while the pebble bounced up. Tiella pulled her head back to yell at her partner but she was interrupted when the same pebble landed on top of her head.

Karen's trick shots never did stop at just her firearms. Anything Karen held in her hands that she could throw, she could play with ease.

Tiella grabbed the pebble and threw it back at Karen, only for it to get slapped back into the middle of her brows a second time. She grabbed the pebble and, through sheer force of anger, crushed it in between her thumb and index finger.

Veins popped prominently on her forehead due to immense frustration, but she held it in check while gnashing her teeth and forcing a smile on her face — though her eyes clearly stated her intentions to get physical if pushed further.

Deciding that she'd had enough fun with her partner, for the time being, she grinned wider and placed both hands on her waist.

"Taiyang's calling you for brunch. They're all waiting for you there."

Tiella huffed air through her nose with a frown, her glare at Karen withering just a tad. She shouldered her ax and stood relaxed on one leg.

"Sounds to me like you're not joining."

Karen smiled while adjusting her glasses. "You know me, Tielle."

"Yeah, yeah." Tiella frowned disappointedly.

"Besides, I'm sure you'll be fine. I know it's asking you a lot already, but do try to relax and open up to them if you can."

"We'll see."

"Because I know you can. You and the sisters already have a history of being friendly with each other, at least based on what practically _everyone_ else at Beacon says about the relationship between you and Team RWBY."

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Tiella groaned, muttering softly to herself while rubbing her arm. "And _you_ know _me_. I can't stand those kinda people — that kinda life. It's too happy."

 _"Too bright."_

Karen sighed knowingly. "And again, I know that it's asking you a lot, but try to relax here, okay? There's _nothing_ out here to get you — other than Grimm, of course." She winked. "I mean, look at you! You were already pretty comfortable until I broke you away from your chopping and relaxation time." She giggled.

As a response, Tiella simply glared at her while flipping her the bird. Karen simply laughed again in response to it. She let out a voiceless chuckle and gave the girl a knowing smile.

"Look, Tielle, just think of it this way." Karen received no verbal response and so took the silence as an indication to keep going. "You don't have to tell them anything about our past — _your_ past — but you can at least tell them what you like and don't like. Just share in the good times, okay? Let them know that you love sweets, how you constantly love listening to all sorts of music genres when they ask. Those kinds of things."

Tiella cast her eyes to the ground and turned her head away. She remained silent and unmoving in that frown of hers, and for the nth time that day, Karen let out another sigh.

"Well, I'll be off now." Karen walked up to Tiella and gave her a quick side hug, nuzzling the side of her head on Tiella's shoulder. "I promised to be at Beacon when Bardy wakes up today. I also have some things to discuss with General Ironwood and Headmaster Ozpin so I'll be back tonight. But after that, all of my free time will be spent with you." She looked up and gave her a big smile before breaking away and walking off with a wave.

Meanwhile, Tiella contemplated Karen's words for a few before she remembered that Taiyang was calling for her. Just as she was about to take heavy steps to head inside the house, she felt a little nudge on her right leg. She looked down and saw a black and white furry mutt just looking up at her in that big toothy smile with its tongue hanging on the side of its mouth.

It did a little bark just as it put its tiny paws on her leg to stand up and get a better look at her.

Tiella looked at the mutt for a moment — named Zwei as she recalled — before hesitantly taking it up in her hands, holding it as far away from herself when it attempted to lick her face. She looked a wee bit miffed for a few, just glaring at it intensely with pursed lips. She looked side to side, at the windows and at the door, and even back at the forest just a few dozen meters away from the house proper before sending an intense glare at the mutt.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, huh?"

Shaking, unable to contain herself any longer, she stuffed her face on Zwei's furry side and just proceeded to rub her nose on its fur while muttering " _whozagooboy!?_ " aggressively in a hoarse voice on repeat.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, huh? Who the hell do you think you are, _huh!?_ Who the hell told you you could just come up to me and act all _cute_ and _adorable_ and _cute_ and _cuddly_ and _cute_ and _adorable_ and _cute_ and-"

She sat down cross-legged and hugged Zwei close to her chest while resting and smothering her chin atop its little head. She let out a suppressed squeal of " _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—!_ " and aggressively rubbed her cheek with Zwei's.

"You goddamn sonuvabitch, how dare you be so cute? Who told you you could be that cute, huh!? Who fucking died and made you the most adorable little fucker, huh!? Little fucker, adorable littler fucker, god I fucking love you. You're so fucking cute and cuddly you cute motherfucking sonuvabitch with your stupid looking face and your pudgy arms and legs, and your round fat butt and that cute wiggly tail and-"

Zwei, for his part, was smugly basking in the aggressive shower of love.

"E-Ehem."

And Tiella quickly stopped smothering Zwei with her unrestrained love. She stood up and put Zwei gently down on the ground. She looked at the person who coughed to get her attention and, with heroic efforts, managed a straight face despite the amount of dog fur stuck on her face, hair, and clothes.

"Yes?"

Zwei, disappointed, kept nudging Tiella's leg with his adorable little nose to get her attention once again but Tiella, with herculean efforts, ignored him.

"We, uh, p-pfft..." Yang tried — _and failed_ — to keep a straight face and so was unable to meet Tiella's stoic gaze. "W-We... b-break! R-Right, you uh, pfft-haaaaahahahaha!"

Tiella kept her blank look upon the laughing Yang. She felt the unfairness of the world when she realized that her efforts could only be described as divine with how hard she was trying not to blush. She always thought that, if gods existed, they were flippant assholes that only help at the stupidest fucking moments.

This moment was one of them.

It took Yang a good 20 seconds before she managed to get her breathing to become stable enough for her words to become coherent.

"S-Sorry, hehe." Yang wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "It's just I've never seen someone so aggressive with cuddling and smothering Zwei before. And I thought that seeing Weiss get all mushy with him was going to be the most unexpected thing I'll ever see today. Honestly, it was super cute despite the cussing."

Tiella merely looked to the side as she sighed mentally, wondering who Weiss was and why she was important enough to be mentioned, before returning her stoic gaze at Yang's carefree lilacs.

"Come on, you're done with chopping firewood, right? I'll help you bring 'em in but you can take a break now since brunch is ready too! It's bacon jam on toast." Yang turned to walk back to the door but abruptly turned again to give Tiella a wide grin. "Oh, and, we got milk, sweet and warm, just the way you like it!"

Tiella stood there, just looking back at the easy smile Yang had for her, and wondered. _"If circumstances were different, would I have fallen for her instead of Glynda?"_ She gave it another second to stir in her mind before mentally shaking her head. _"Maybe, maybe not but I'm too lucky with Glynda already. I'm never letting her go."_

Before sighing and following the younger blonde back into the house.

* * *

Within the Xiao Long residence's round dining table, things became a little... livelier.

"We get to eat Weiss's cookies again!"

"Not right now, Ruby! Please, properly sit down on the dinner table!"

"Yeah, but still!"

"Wouldn't it be a lunch table since that's what we're having now?" Yang commented.

"Technically, it should be a brunch table." Taiyang corrected.

"Ugh! Fine," Weiss whined. "It's a dining table, happy?"

Ruby was bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. Weiss was helping set the table — which was both expected and unexpected. Blake was sitting by the table with a smile on her face sipping coffee, just watching the homely scene in front of her — _without_ her bow too. Yang had a big grin as she entered, leaving Tiella by the door.

Tiella pocketed her sweaty hands with an uneasy look. She met eyes with Taiyang and he gave her a reassuring smile.

"Thanks for chopping up the firewood! Come and sit anywhere you like," Taiyang offered. "I hope you like bacon jam on toast."

Tiella tried to return the gesture with a forced half-smile and nodded in thanks while taking a seat next to Blake. "I've... never had bacon jam but it sounds good, thank you."

Yang and Ruby gave her an odd look.

"Dad's bacon jam is really super good!" Ruby praised.

"Well, if you've never had any, now's the best time, don't you think?" Yang smiled.

Tiella tried smiling back and her effort was well appreciated despite the obvious awkward forcefulness behind it.

Weiss placed a plate in front of Blake and then another one for her before moving on to Ruby and Yang.

"How are you feeling?"

Tiella was a little surprised that the seemingly quiet bookworm of the team was the first to initiate a conversation with her. The reason she chose to sit next to the brunette was precisely because she thought that there wouldn't be a conversation between them. She took a moment to not gawk at the exposed cat ears atop her head but Blake noticed and she quickly shot her a reassuring smile while moving them.

"I'm..." She looked away, down at the empty plate in front of her, "fine."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

"We apologize if we come off as unpleasant to you." Blake smiled apologetically, earning a questioning look from the amnesiac girl. "I suppose we're just more used to..." She paused for a second. "I suppose we're more used to acting like this when we're with you — though, admittedly, _they're_ still acting a little bit more subdued."

Tiella turned her head away and ran her fingers through her hair. "It's... not that. I don't think you're being unpleasant. Don't worry about it, but thanks anyway."

"Please don't think I'm one of the people she's talking about," Weiss said as she sat next to Tiella. "I'm acting just the way I usually am with you — I'm not as energetic as those two. It's the sisters that are holding back because they don't want to surprise you and make you feel uncomfortable."

"It's fine, really, thank you for your consideration but, _please_ , don't mind me. I know I'm being rude right now but... sorry."

Weiss looked at her blankly for a moment before turning her attention to the food on the table.

"I see. Very well. No offense taken."

* * *

Brunch came and those who were still hungry had lunch just two hours after.

The setting was Ruby's room on the second floor of the Xiao Long residence.

The time: 12:53 pm

The date: Same day.

And inside, four people wearing paper bag masks sat in a circle on the floor.

"The anonymous meeting of board members to understand the mind of one amnesiac Celestiella Margory has now begun. Miss W, let's begin with what you've found," Said the cloaked paper bag masked girl.

"More like bored members." The girl who had her blonde mane flowing out of her paper bag mask quickly jabbed.

One with a lopsided ponytail jutting out the side of the paper bag with a tiara on top began. "Ruby, I-"

"Shush, Miss W! This is an anonymous meeting! We shall address ourselves as none other than our given codenames!"

"Codenames!?" Miss W yelled in indignation. "Ruby, we are-"

"Shush!"

"Ru-"

" _Shush!_ "

"Just drop it, _Miss W_ ," Blond Paper Bag Mask interjected before the back and forth could keep going for longer. "Let it go so we can finish the meeting sooner, right, _Miss B?_ "

Miss B, who wore a paper bag with holes cut out at the top for her cat ears merely sighed in resignation.

"Can we please just start already? It's hard to breathe in this because it's pressing on my nose." Whined Miss B. "And the sound of the paper bag is honestly irritating my ears."

Miss W sighed, pulling on her paper bag mask securely as she reluctantly reported on her findings. "Tiella-"

"We will refer to the subject of the matter as Subject Star." Miss R interjected.

With a prominent vein on her forehead popping right out of her paper bag, Miss W corrected herself through tightly gnashed teeth. " _Subject Star_ , before brunch began, looked quite uncomfortable when we were giving her hospitality. That's what I've noticed, at least."

"Why do you think that is?" Miss R queried.

"I'm not sure. Maybe she simply finds us annoying."

Miss R deflated a bit after hearing Miss W's hypothesis but Miss B's words made her stir in her thoughts.

"I think she's unused to receiving kindness."

"Unused to receiving kindness?" Miss R put her hands together as she leaned towards Miss B. "Explain."

"She said so herself a couple of times already — she wants to be left alone. She wants us to stop minding her, to stop giving her attention. She wants space."

"Like you?" Miss Y interjected dryly.

" _No_ ," Miss B bit back, "unlike me, she isn't saying it because she wants peace and quiet for the sake of it. I think she's just not used to it. Like receiving a gift out of nowhere. It puts her on the spot and she doesn't know what to do with it. It's stifling."

"I see," Miss R nodded sagely. "I don't really get it. If people surprised me with cookies out of nowhere, I'd instantly take it."

"Because you're used to kindness for no reason," Miss B replied. "I'm sure Ya-"

She quickly paused after receiving a death glare from Miss R.

"I'm sure _Miss Y_ has given you treats for no reason in particular before."

"Yeah, she has." Miss R nodded with Miss Y.

"Then that just means you've gotten used to it. It's part of your nature to accept things from Miss Y without thinking too much about it — "Why is Miss Y giving me this?", "Did I do something good today?", "Did she do something bad to me that I don't know about yet and she's trying to get on my good side before I find out about it?", "Is something bad about to happen to me so she's making me happy right now?" — those kinds of questions."

The rest of the board members paused for a moment to take in Miss B's words. The first to break the silence was Miss Y.

"You're saying she has trust issues?"

"At this point, it'd be hard to discount it. Especially after what you told us when you came back yesterday after meeting them."

"Yeah..." Miss Y nodded with a hand to her chin under the paper bag mask. "I remember Dr. Maxwell saying how Cele- _Subject Star_ had " _zero fucking trust in anyone_ " or something," She paused when she earned a light slap on the elbow from Miss R.

"Then that just proves my point even more. She has trust issues, which, considering her circumstances, aren't entirely unfounded. That's even ignoring her mercenary past before Beacon. I think that even with the words from someone close and trusted, I'd find it hard to believe that everything really is as she says it is."

All board members took another moment to pause and try to understand Miss B's conjectures. Miss W, who had been quiet since she was asked at the start of the meeting, spoke up.

"I believe..." She paused, gaining the attention of her fellow board members. "...that it's the opposite."

Surprised, Miss R, Miss B, and Miss Y all looked back at Miss W in puzzlement. Taking their silent confusion as a moment to formulate her words, she continued.

"That isn't to say that Miss B is wrong, but I believe that it isn't _just_ because of trust issues."

"Continue." Miss R nodded.

"Right. I think..."

Miss W crossed her arms under her chest and let her gaze wander the room in search of proper words.

"I think that Subject Star is suppressing her desire to be attended to. To have people noticing her, caring for her, showing her that it's normal to just do things out of kindness without expecting anything in return."

She let her eyes fall to the floor while choosing her next words.

"Ask yourself, where do a person's trust issues come from? Would it not normally be because of a past experience where they ended up being betrayed? When they expected something of a person but they ended up being disappointed? Or worse, _hurt_ because of it?"

Miss B's, Miss Y's, and Miss R's eyes all glanced away from Miss W's as memories resurfaced to the forefront of their minds.

"Perhaps it happened so often to her in the past. Perhaps it was only one thing but it hurt her _so_ much that she finds it hard to open up and let others in."

"I overheard how Dr. Maxwell tried to convince her to open up before brunch." Miss B recalled. "Subject Star didn't look convinced but she _did_ look like she was contemplating her words."

Miss R voiced her question softly. "What do you suggest we do?"

"Should we just keep doing what we were doing earlier after all? Even when she says that she doesn't need us to be extra considerate of her?" Miss Y asked.

"I'm not sure, honestly." Miss W sighed, slumping her shoulders a little before sitting upright. "Would it be better to continue as we have like Miss Y suggested? Would it be better to do as Subject Star asks and leave her alone unless she comes to us on her own volition?"

"Maybe a delicate balance of the two?" Miss B suggested, catching everyone's eyes. "It's going to be hard, but if we can find the right balance of "assertively offering assistance" and "waiting to get asked for help", then slowly but surely, we can make her see that it's okay for her to trust us."

"But is that really okay?"

All heads turned to Miss Y who voiced her doubts.

"I mean, is it really okay for us to do something like that? Wouldn't we be meddling too much? Even before she lost her memories, we were her friends at best and students at least. None of us really qualify as her close friend, you know? She's got Dr. Maxwell, Lilly, and Goodwitch to better help her when she needs it, doesn't she?"

They all considered her words in silence.

"I'm not saying I don't wanna be the girl to help her out and, really, I wanna help because she's my favorite Beacon person and stuff, but..." Miss Y paused while playing her hair with her fingers. "I dunno... I really wanna help but then I also wanna take this chance to get to know her better. But then using this particular chance kinda feels... off, you feel me?"

Miss R nodded empathetically. "Yeah, it's like... weird. Like, it's not " _bad_ " bad but it doesn't feel good either."

"You don't want to take this chance because it'll feel like you're doing something due to an ulterior motive." Miss B tried to explain.

Miss Y quickly snapped her fingers at her. "Exactly!"

"But is that so bad?" Miss W voiced her own doubts. "If, ultimately, it's to help her, then is it so bad? Even _with_ an ulterior motive, the nature of the motive itself — while it _is_ intended to take advantage of her current predicament for personal gain — isn't inherently evil, is it?

Is it not meant to help not just us, but her too? Would it not be better for her to feel comfortable? For her to let go of her anxieties? So that we can see her having fun like before? Why is it bad to want to be close to another person when they're down? I don't understand..."

"Maybe it's because it feels like we're pushing our own beliefs onto her when she's vulnerable like that." Miss R answered softly, earning a blank yet puzzled look from Miss W. "It feels like controlling her to get what we want, even when it's based on good intentions. I wanna help her because that's what I wanna do and our parents always said it's good to help people and stuff, but I think this is different from just saving another person from a Grimm attack."

"This is more complicated than we thought," Miss Y commented with a sigh.

The seconds ticked by with no one speaking further. It wasn't after a minute or so when Miss R broke the silence with a moderately audible clap.

"Let's conclude our discussion for today then! Since we can't do much more, let's just do what we know we can!" Miss R spoke with a smile to her voice, garnering the attention of the rest of the anonymous board members. "Let's do what Miss B suggested and try for that delicate balance of wanting to help and waiting to get asked for help. But let's keep in mind to not make her feel like she's helpless, okay? Remember, Subject Star has always been a capable person and that's why we look up to her! So let's not baby her!"

Miss W, Miss B, and Miss Y shared looks with one another and nodded in agreement with Miss R.

"Give her space, basically." Miss Y nodded with arms crossed under her chest.

"Let her come to us," Miss B added.

"And help her as best as we can." Miss W concluded.

"It's like she's a kitty cat!" Miss Y added post-script, earning a glare from the cat-eared Miss B.

Miss B sighed with a slight shake of her head. "In hindsight, I suppose she would feel stifled when people she doesn't recognize suddenly started acting familiar with her, giving her a lot of attention. We're practically strangers to her again."

"True." Miss Y nodded somberly.

So did the meeting of anonymous board members conclude.

"Can we take this off now?" Miss B asked, eagerly waiting for approval.

"Uh, yes. Hehe, sorry about that, Blake." Ruby smiled meekly.

And unbeknownst to them, a certain older blonde male heard the conclusion to their talk with a smile on his features while the subject of the discussion herself stood quietly eavesdropping from outside the house, just below the meeting place's window.

* * *

Dusk neared and Tiella quietly walked to the edge of the forest surrounding the Xiao Long residence and took her scroll out. She struggled with it for a moment, not remembering how to properly use one, but after a few seconds, she found the contacts and scrolled down to the name Carol Stephanie Maxwell.

"..."

She stood silently staring at the name on her contacts, debating in her mind to call the only person she knew. She shut her eyes and shook her head with a sigh as she scrolled a little further down before opening her eyes and silently reading the name.

Hesitantly, she rang the number and waited with bated breath.

Ring, ring, ring.

"..."

Ring, ring, ring.

"..."

Ring, ring, ring.

"..."

Disappointed, she sighed and was about to end the call before it could even begin but the other end picked up and answered frantically.

[Tiella?]

Her heart did a tiny skip at the worried voice. She couldn't see her face but just the sound of it made it easy for her to imagine that the older woman was surprised.

"Hey, uh..." She walked in circles while looking down and rubbing her nape. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

[No, I'm sorry I took a while to answer. I was in the staff room and I had to step out to take the call.]

"I see."

[Yes.]

"Hm."

[...]

"..."

[...Tiella?]

"Yeah?"

[Do you need something?]

"O-Oh, uh..." She walked in circles the other way while letting her eyes wander her surroundings. "Sorry, umm, I just..."

[...]

"I just, uh..."

[Did you want to hear my voice?]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"Y-Yes."

She giggled. [That's funny.]

Tiella's eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the reply because she could practically hear the smile in her voice from it.

[I wanted to hear your voice too.]

She squatted down and picked up a stick, dragging it across the soil in random patterns. She let out a soft laugh, unable to keep the smile from her face. She was happy there was no one around to see it or else she feared that she might have to go on another violent tirade to hide her embarrassment.

[Hey?]

"Yeah?"

[Is there anything I can help you with?]

"No," She said, but she quickly shook her head and frantically followed up. "N-No, I mean. Yes, there is."

[Very well, how may I help?]

She let out another soft laugh and it was quite strange to her ears — she'd never heard herself so calm, relaxed, and at ease.

"You already are."

[I-I see.]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[...]

Tiella pursed her lips in a flat line, looking side to side as if the soil would give her the words she needed to speak.

"Are you sure about me?"

[About you?]

"Yeah..." She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. "I mean, do you know what I've done?" She voiced softly while her free hand clenched.

[Just the gist.]

"Like?" She gulped.

[Murder, revenge... you told me about how you've killed people for money and for vengeance.]

"And you're okay with that? Someone like me? You can do much better, you know? _So_ much better. So, why not that Lilly girl or whatever? She seems like a real charmer. O-Or some other co-worker who doesn't have blood on their hands?"

After voicing her anxieties and insecurities to her supposed significant other, she least expected a laugh of all things as her reply, and she felt belittled because of it.

[I'm sorry if I've offended you with that but...]

Tiella silently listened, giving the older woman a chance to explain herself.

[It's just that, the night you and I got together officially, we had this same conversation.]

"R-Really?"

[Indeed. You told me about your insecurities, you belittled yourself, saying, and I quote: "Because I _know_ you can do so much better than me. I'd say I'm on the _goddamn bottom rung_ if we're talking standards too." end quote.]

Tiella hung her mouth open in surprise. She could actually believe that she would say such words to her if she hadn't already. And in that case, she truly did. Oblivious to the younger girl's shock, Glynda continued.

[There was also a time when Lilly questioned me whether I knew about your infamy in your world. I didn't but I disregarded them, of course. Because I believe that you would tell me if you wish to do so. I accept you, infamy and all. You are in a new world where your past doesn't matter and you can turn over a new leaf. And I'll be here to be with you along the way.]

"..."

[Lilly really cares for you, you know?]

"..."

[...]

"...I should probably give her a call too."

[Good. Though I was quite frustrated when you told me that, you know?]

"Y-Yeah? Told you what?"

[That I can do so much better than you.]

"...Because you easily can."

[You're doing it again. And no, you don't get to tell me who I fall for. And I was frustrated because, like you are doing now, you're belittling the person I love and I _can't_ stand that.]

Tiella felt her cheeks flush rosy at the words and she couldn't utter a word in response.

[Let other people think differently of you, they don't know better and they don't matter — we simply need to prove them wrong when the time comes. But when you're doing it to yourself, it hurts to hear it and I won't _stand_ to hear it. I've said this before and I'll say it again — I am your _ally_ and I won't let you be alone. You don't have to worry about being alone anymore because I won't let you.]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[Are you crying?]

"N-No! I had an itch in my nose and I scratched it and now it's runny!"

[Very well.]

"Verily, it _is_ well!"

[You know that doesn't make sense.]

"Yeah, well," She sniffled. "I thought it was funny."

[Mhmm, it is.]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[Hey, Tiella?]

"Yeah?"

She sat on the soil hugging her knees while looking up at the branches with streams of dusk light peeking between the leaves. The tears in her eyes made them look awfully brighter than usual.

[I'm sorry.]

She looked at her scroll with a puzzled brow.

"What for?"

[For...]

"..."

[It's... a little hard to explain.]

"Does it involve my lost memories?"

[Somewhat, yes.]

"I see."

[Y-Yes, umm, I know it wouldn't make sense to you now but... but please know that I am _truthfully_ sorry. I regret _all_ that I said the night before. It was insensitive of me, and I didn't try to understand you at the time, and I have no excuse for my jealousy, and-]

"Glynda?"

[Y-Yes?]

"You're right, I don't understand. It doesn't make sense at all."

[I-I'm sorry. You're right.]

She smiled. "So let's try this again when my memory returns, okay? And I'll decide then whether to forgive you or not."

[...Okay.]

"Yeah."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"Hey, Glynda?"

[Yes?]

"D-Do we, um..."

[...]

"H-Have I told you that I l-lov-love you?"

[Have you told me that you love me? Yes, just about every chance you could get. So much so that you always say it before I could.]

Steam escaped Tiella's head when her face turned bright red. She shifted her weight, squatting on her soles while dragging her finger on the soil. She muttered her next words softly and shyly.

"I-I see..."

[It's always flattering to hear because you say it so naturally.]

"M-Mhm."

[So now, it's my turn. I love you.]

"I-I-!"

Tiella's heart skipped a few beats and she looked around to check whether there were others nearby to overhear her again. "T-Thanks... I, umm... I can see why I fell for you and, umm, I'm sorry but I'm probably not quite at the same level of affection as before b-but, umm, y-yeah, I-"

She coughed the words out.

" _Iloveyoutoo_."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"...Glynda?"

[Y-Yes?]

"Are _you_ crying?"

[N-No, I-]

"Did you have an itch on the inside too?"

[No! That's disgusting!]

"Then...?"

[I-I...]

"...mhmm?"

[I sneezed.]

"You sneezed."

[I did.]

"Quietly."

[Yes, _quietly._ ]

"You sneezed without a-"

[-Indeed, I did-]

"-sound. You sneezed without even-"

[-that's just how-]

"-a single huff of air-"

[-other people-]

"-like, hachoo! or some-"

[-sneeze, you know?]

"-thing."

[Not everyone sounds like a shotgun-]

"Uh, huh."

[-when they sneeze, like you. Sometimes, some people-]

"Mhmm."

[-just let out a quick and sile-]

"You're totally crying."

[-nt— I am not.]

"You totally are."

[I-I—]

"Oh, see? I heard you, you just sniffled!"

[I-I sneezed s-so my nose-]

"Became runny."

[-became runny, yes!]

"Sure."

[W-Wha-.. well, you were crying too!]

"Oh yeah, totally."

[Grr... You!]

"I was just-"

[You are so-]

"- _literally_ bawling-"

[- _so_ unfair,]

"-my eyes out."

[-you know that?]

"Couldn't stop the floodgates-"

[Jerk.]

"-from opening, y'know?"

[...]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[Pfft...]

"Hehe..."

And just inside the house, Blake Belladonna heard peculiar joyous laughter when she sat by the couch of the living room along with her friends. She stood, catching their attention, and she walked up to the window and peered out. Her eyes widened in surprise but they quickly softened when she understood what she was watching.

"What's up, Blakey?" Yang asked, walking up behind Blake.

Blake gave her a look, unable to keep her smile away which piqued Yang's curiosity even more. Blake didn't grace her with a verbal answer but instead pointed out the window with a tilt of her head for Yang to see.

Yang did as told and the second she looked out and saw Tiella's genuine smile, her heart melted and much like Blake, couldn't keep a smile off her face. "Well, well. How about that?"

"Makes me think she doesn't need our help after all."

"Eeeehh, probably. Doesn't mean we won't be here to give it if she asks."

"That's true."

"Hey, sis, what'chu lookin' at?"

"Hehe, why don't you take a look at it yourself, baby sister?"

Ruby pouted at the nickname but she peeked out as well and she couldn't help the audible gasp that escaped her lips. She grinned large and wide. "Weiss! Come look at this!"

"Why are you all just standing there looking out the window?" Weiss asked as she walked up behind Ruby.

"Just look!" Ruby pointed gleefully.

Weiss rolled her eyes lightheartedly and peered just as well — and much like the rest of her friends, she couldn't keep the pleasant surprise from etching a smile across her features. "That's good."

"Who do you think she's talking to? 10 Lien says it's Goodwitch."

"Yang, that's unfair! It's almost surely Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby pouted.

"It _might_ be the doctor."

"No, that's definitely Professor Goodwitch," Blake added. "I've only ever seen that expression on her when she's talking with her."

"You're right." Weiss smiled before taking a seat back on her place at the couches. "Stop peeking at them, you three. That's just rude. Give them their alone time."

"But we haven't seen Celeste so happy in weeks! No, a month!" Yang whined.

"Yeah! We wanna see more happy Celeste!"

Blake sighed, content with what she'd seen and heard. From what she got, Tiella was teasing Glynda about crying.

"Girls, Weiss is right. Let's give them some space. We'll be able to see more " _happy Celeste_ " later on — we still have a bit of time before the break ends, after all."

"Oh, _fine_." Yang relented with a hand on her waist before taking a seat next to Blake at quite the close proximity with her head on Blake's lap. "You won't mind if I sleep here, right?"

Ruby took a seat next to Weiss and continued playing her video game about a super tall and sexy witch that shoots guns with her boots and fights demons with her hair, it's quite intense.

Weiss, meanwhile, was simply content with her much needed downtime and relaxation even though it wasn't the 5-star hotel she was originally hoping for. And the longer she spent relaxing, the more she felt that being there was far better than being in the hotel.

It was simply idyllic.

Blake sighed in fake exasperation, covering Yang's eyes with her forearm as she resumed reading her book. "How could I complain? I'm in _your_ house."

"It could be yours too if you become my girlfriend."

All three pairs of eyes looked back at the grinning blonde in surprise.

" _Juuuust kidding._ "

Yang teasingly giggled, to which she earned a little bonk on the head from the hard spine of Blake's book. Yang pulled Blake's forearm lower, revealing her eyes and covering her mouth from the brunette's view and whispered in a way that only Blake could possibly hear.

"Or am I?"

Yang giggled again before hiding her eyes beneath Blake's forearm and taking a nap with a big shit-eating grin on her face. Blake, meanwhile, did her best to ignore the hammering in her chest as she raised her book a little higher to hide the blush on her cheeks from the other pair across the living room.

* * *

—18:38, Wednesday, 19th of the 6th month, 1215 Remnant AD.

Beacon Academy, West Wing Dormitory, Room 312.

"Alright, I'll be going now. You take care of Bardy, okay? I'll be with Tielle until we come back."

"Thank you, Karen. Take as much time as you need. And you don't need to worry about Bardy, I'll be sure to watch over him."

"I don't need a babysitter."

"Good! Because I'm _not_ your babysitter nor will I ever be." Lilly smiled at Bardel, yet the gleam in her eyes promised untold pain should he give continue to argue. "You will do as I say until you're fully recovered."

"What!? Fuck no! I'm fine!"

"You can't even walk 2 steps without tripping and planting your face on the floor!" Lilly pointed her finger at Bardel's nose.

Despite his unlocked Aura's passive healing, Lilly's care, and Karen's Healing Touch, Bardel was still only halfway through on the road to a full recovery. His legs suffered such severe burns that he could barely walk from the pain. His arms strained from torn muscle fibers, severe burns, and bruises, too, so whenever he tried to so much as scratch his nose, he always ended up sucking air in deeply while his voice shook from agony.

Karen and Lilly guessed that it would take him at least two more weeks of therapy before he could even stand up properly for longer than two seconds.

As the two argued, Karen laughed, sighed, shook her head, and exited the room with a silent click of the shutting door.

It wasn't after another two minutes of yelling at each others' faces did they stop when Lilly's scroll rang from the desk to interrupt.

She looked at it curiously, ignoring the angrily yelling Bardel before shoving a rolled-up towel in his mouth and picking her scroll up to check the caller ID. She was so surprised that she fumbled with her scroll and it slipped out of her hands and nearly dropped on the floor only she managed to kick it back up and in her hands.

Breathing, she calmed her nerves and accepted the call.

"T-Tiella?"

[Hey, uh... L-Lilly.]

Lilly's voice, meek as it was, made Bardel pause as he took the towel out of his mouth. He'd just been briefed about everything that happened since that day while he was being cared for by the two girls.

And his only reaction was...

"Huh... so she's safe, right?"

His words put a smile on the two girls' faces.

Right up until he opened his mouth again.

"That means I can kick her ass for causing so much trouble once I'm better, good."

To which he earned a light chop on the head from Lilly and a heavy slap on the face from Karen.

Despite the force of the slap, it was neither painful nor harmful since it was done with her gloves off. The aggressive but fleeting contact with her hand only served to expedite the healing of his cheek if only slightly.

It was an odd sensation. It was like getting hit by a solid block of air that felt refreshing albeit dizzying from the way his head turned away abruptly.

He was taken away from his reminiscing when he heard Lilly choke up on the scroll.

"I-It's fine, your current circumstances are no fault of yours so anything you did to me is-"

[No, no, seriously, let me apologize. You're, like, supposed to be my best friend, right? Karen told me that you've been taking care of me whenever Glynda couldn't ever since... well, since that day or something.]

"Y-Yes. B-But I did it because I wanted to-"

[And now I'm apologizing to you because I want to. I realize that I fucked up. Amnesia or not, I shouldn't bite the hand that took good care of me. So... I'm sorry and thank you. I appreciate it.]

Lilly sniffled, wiping a tear away as she smiled. "Gosh, it's nothing. I'm just glad you're here, safe and sound."

[Once my memory returns, let's do something together.]

She paused blinking at the words she heard. It took her a second to process them. And when she did, she smiled and her immediate response was...

"No."

[H-Hm?]

"I said, no." Lilly smiled wider, chuckling at Tiella's bewilderment. "You still have that date with Glynda to go on. You may not remember now but Glynda told me that you haven't even gone on your first date yet."

[Shit, really?]

"Yes."

[Damn.]

She giggled. "And besides, I'm good." Lilly walked to the window and peered out where the setting sun dyed the night sky purplish-pink while the moon shone brightly. "Also, Glynda rarely shows it, but she can be quite jealous. But the good thing about her is that she almost never acts on it. So you better take good care of her."

[I mean, yeah, that's a given, but if you're my best gal then I gotta take good care of you, too, you know? I can't be the only one being taken care of, that doesn't sit well with me.]

She chuckled again, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Thank you."

[Right... so... when this is all over, let's do something, alright?]

"Alright."

[Right.]

"Mhm."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"..."

[W-Well, that's it for now. Thanks again, bye.]

"You're welcome, Tiella. See you later."

[It's Tielle.]

"Hmm?"

[Back when I just woke up, that's what you were calling me, right? No need to feel reserved. It feels a bit awkward for me, but if you've been calling me that way and I never once minded it, then there's no need to stop.]

Lilly's eyes widened slightly in pleasant surprise. She chuckled again, remembering the first time she tried calling her with that nickname.

"Actually, you shoved me away and called me some choice words with some choice nicknames the first time I did."

[I-I did?]

"Yes, it's quite funny, honestly."

[I-I'm _so_ sorry-]

"Now, now, Tielle." She smiled, liking the feel of calling out the intimate nickname on her lips again. "It's all water under the bridge." She turned from the moon and let her eyes wander the room as she leaned her back and elbows on the window sill. "We were yet to be friends at the time and I was being overly familiar because I wanted to spite you. Eventually, we overcame our differences after duking it out and talking it out, and the nickname just stuck with."

[I-I see. That sounds like me alright.]

"Yes." She giggled at the fond memory. "Yes, it does."

[Alrighty then... I'll just, uh... talk to you later.]

"That would be nice."

[See ya then.]

"See you."

[Thanks again, bye.]

"Thank _you_ for calling me. I appreciate it greatly."

And the call dropped.

Lilly sighed contentedly while pocketing her scroll. When she met eyes with Bardel and he gave her a questioning look, she smiled at him wide and pure, and the feeling of elation was enough that tears formed at the corner of her eyes once more.

Later that night, Glynda met with Lilly for dinner and they talked about their most recent call from Tiella. After dinner, Lilly called Karen to tell her how Tiella called them both and soon after the call ended, Tiella was assaulted with a teary vice-like hug.

And unlike brunch, dinner was a bit more pleasant for all parties involved.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _A bit of a short chapter this time._

 _There's not much to say here but my humble thanks for sticking with me up to this far._

 _Do tell me your thoughts on the new chapter, or don't! It's not an obligation but it is highly appreciated!_

 _Darkmaster10000000: Thank you for the recommendation! It's about a million words long so this will be a doozy of a read but I am interested in the premise of the story. So I'll let you know once I've read it._

 _P.S. I've been waiting for months to write banter again and I enjoyed writing it again very well! See you in the next chapter!_

* * *

—20:13 hours, Same day.

Xiao Long Residence, Patch Island.

Yang, who was eating dinner in the round table with everyone, asked the question that had been nagging her for weeks.

"Why do you call Dr. Maxwell Karen when it's not even in her real name?"

Karen and Tiella shared a look with each other and while Tiella grinned smugly, Karen rolled her eyes with a sigh, muttering the words. "Here we go again..."

"See, back where we're from, there's this subspecies of women with blonde hair and blue eyes that nag people to death. Like, literal death, they're just the absolute fucking worst. They're so goddamned stupid and entitled that practically everyone with a working brain hated them."

"Really?" Yang looked at Tiella disbelievingly while taking spoonfuls of her dinner.

"Yyyyeeup." Popping the P. "And the common thing about almost every annoying subspecies of women with blonde hair and blue eyes was that nearly every single one of 'em was named Karen."

"You can't be serious."

"For reals."

"That's gotta be a coincidence."

"It is."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Uh, huh."

"I agree!" Karen finally interjected with a throbbing vein while she angrily ate. "It IS ridiculous. But no matter how much I complained, she just kept calling me that, simply because I " _nag_ " her and I have blonde hair and blue eyes." Air quoting the word with her fingers. "I'm, like, so what!? Just because I share a few similarities with those homicidal morons doesn't mean I actually _am_ one of them! For instance, I actually have an education and it isn't just for show like those pompous dullards!"

"Pompous wha?" Ruby wondered.

"Second of all, I " _nag_ " because I worry that _this_ stupid musclehead would get spoiled rotten because Lilly just keeps doting on her! I swear she's like a grandma taking care of her grandchildren when it comes to Tielle." She shook her head in disapproval. "Also, apologize to all the Karens in the world for stereotyping them like that!"

"But I've been calling you Karen way before we met Lilly, though?"

"I nag because you're a little shit that can't cook even if it kills you!" Pointing a fork at Tiella's face.

"Now that's a low blow, Karen, what the hell!?"

"Shut up and eat dinner, you ungrateful oaf!" She shoved an entire bread up Tiella's mouth, causing her to choke while she angrily went back to eating.


	37. Chapter 37

—12:02 hours, Wednesday, 19th of the 6th month, 1215 R.A.D.  
Office of the Headmaster, Grand Clocktower, Beacon Academy

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Karen announced as soon as she walked through the doors of Ozpin's office. "Is this everyone?"

"It's fine." Ozpin dismissed with a nod. "Though, unfortunately, due to circumstances that demand their immediate attention, Headmaster Torako and Headmaster Leonardo are unable to join us today."

"Great." She took a seat on a couch beside Lilly.

"Would there ever be a chance to summon all headmasters into one meeting?" Lilly questioned. "It's imperative that we meet each other if we are to work together, after all."

"My apologies, Lilly," Ozpin smiled apologetically. "I'll make sure to summon all headmasters in the next one."

"That would be great, thank you. Ah, but I must mention that I've spoken with Headmaster Torako personally — I have to say, she reminds me of Tielle and Karen's old martial arts master, Master Roberta. Now, while I've never met Master Roberta, I've heard stories about her straight out of her students." She drifted.

And as she drifted, she earned varying degrees of confused looks, which she paid no mind, continuing as if she was merely talking to herself.

"It was two days after Bardy and I arrived in Remnant, she sought us out after we made a lot of _noise_ within the kingdom. I'm not quite sure why we ended up in Vacuo yet but," She chuckled, waving her hand to dismiss a certain memory's intrusion in her thoughts, "that's a story for another time if you don't mind. I feel that if I start now, I'd take up the entire chapter and the next one — I don't believe the narrator would appreciate me going off schedule if you know what I mean," She said, winking at Ozpin.

Excuse me? What are you doing? Are you taking my job now?

"Ehem," Lilly cleared her throat and smiled brightly. " _My!_ " She gently touched her own cheek in an act of feigned modesty. "Excuse my babbling by the end, I read this curious story recently where the narrator would occasionally insert their thoughts during exposition and narration to break the 4th wall and provide cheap humor, so I thought I'd try my hand in it in real life. As expected, you're all giving me weird looks."

"Lilly," Karen called with an incredibly forced polite smile on her face. "Do you need meds?"

"No, Karen, I eat a healthy well-balanced diet, exercise daily, and drink my supplements but I do appreciate your concern." Lilly smiled cheerily.

"We're getting your head checked later, okay?" Karen said with genuine worry in her tone.

"Oh," Lilly held a finger up at Karen, "now, I worry for you. Last time I had my head checked, I was in for a minor concussion, a small accident while I was animatedly playing the violin at our garden. The doctor ended up needing psychiatric help while we spoke and seeing as I was already there, I endeavored to provide my aid until a licensed professional was available for him." She looked up with a finger to her cheek. "I do wonder how he's doing — I hope he's managed to fix his marriage with his wife and reconnected with his children now."

And for a short while, silence reigned as they all stared at Lilly in complete and utter confusion.

Another moment of silence passed and Karen cleared her throat. "Right! So, let's all forget that _ever_ happened, shall we?"

"I agree," Ozpin quickly responded with a raised hand.

General Ironwood, Specialist Schnee, and Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch all expressed their nonverbal agreement.

"Rude." Lilly scoffed and pouted with arms crossed but she couldn't help the grin from creeping on her face. "I was just messing with all of you! Come now! You don't possibly think I'm _that_ insane, right? I'm a _perfectly normal_ human being."

"Now you're just being sarcastic, Lilly." Karen shot her down with a disapproving look. "Let's just begin, I already arrived a few minutes late and you playing around just wasted even more time."

Lilly giggled before straightening up on her seat. "Very well, enough jokes." She took her cup and sipped daintily. "For now." Earning a quick glare from Karen.

Within the office sat Ozpin in his usual place, Lilly nearest to him, and finally, Karen. On the other side across the small table sat General Ironwood directly across Karen, and Glynda opposite Lilly. Though, behind General Ironwood was Specialist Schnee who refused to sit.

"The meeting hasn't even begun but I'm already drained." Karen took a sip at the coffee offered to her and let out an exasperated sigh. "So, what's first on today's agenda?"

"How about beginning by explaining your relationship to us?" General Ironwood suggested as he eyed Lilly and Karen. "I understand that you're both allies to Ozpin and by extension to me, but I still find the nature of your origins... _dubious_ at best. What are your goals? Why are you helping us? And what was that about Vacuo?"

"I'd be happy to answer those, General." Lilly offered with a smile. "Except for that thing with Vacuo. The narrator really will not appreciate me going off schedule. But if you _must_ know, do stick around in Beacon for the next few chapters. I'm sure our dear author will be expanding on that some time soon."

Lillianne, _I swear to the author if you don't stop now_.

She coughed into her hand and donned a more dignified smile as she internally relished the confusion she was causing the others. "We — Dr. Maxwell, Ms. Margory, Mr. Armas, and I — are Avatāra, a small but highly elite mercenary team from Earth, a parallel world." She gestured to the laid out folders labeled with their names and photographs. "I've prepared our résumés for you so that you may view them during or after the meeting."

"Another world..." General muttered as he skimmed through the résumés, and while doing so, heard a near-inaudible scoff from the specialist behind him. "I've provided funding for a couple of brilliant scientists back in Atlas studying quantum mechanics but, quite frankly, that's hard to believe." He set them down on the table.

"But true nonetheless." Lilly countered with a knowing look. "The easiest way to prove it would be to compare our world's knowledge with yours, show you undoctored photos of anything from our world, and..." Her eyes glowed bright momentarily before fading. "...Essentia with our Aura off. Well," She paused, giggling with an eye roll, " _my_ Aura off."

"There's no need to talk about it again, Lilly," Karen interjected. "I've already shown James my Essentia and he's already confirmed with his scientists that I have no Aura — at least, an unlocked one."

"I'm just making sure." General Ironwood loosened his collar just a bit as he recalled the moment Karen morbidly and unflinchingly injured herself with a scalpel through her hand only for it to heal as soon as it was pulled out. "And, admittedly, I'm curious. What is your Essentia, Miss Vernillion?"

"Please, General, _Lilly_ is fine. Most of everyone calls me that, even Ozpin and Glynda." She smiled graciously. "But before I answer your question, you already know of Karen's?"

"Healing Touch she called it, correct?"

"The ability to magnify and accelerate a person's recovery rate through skin contact with her, yes. It's a magnificent skill but quite physically and mentally taxing for both the _healer_ and the _healee_." Lilly nodded. "Mine is..." Her eyes glowed dimly once again as she grinned widely. It was, if General and Specialist were being openly honest, a fair bit intimidating. "...the ability to see."

That earned a chuckle and a slight head shake from Karen. "Stop playing around, please, Lilly. You're still treating these meetings like banter."

"You can see?" General reiterated. "Does that mean you originally couldn't?"

The dim in her eyes faded to reveal piercing purple irises. "That's correct. Before I received my Essentia, I used to be blind. And after receiving it, I found out that _seeing_ wasn't the only thing granted to me. If I focus, I can watch a lightning strike lazily roll down the sky in what would feel like _minutes_ to my mind even though it should only take a _second_ to all of you."

General Ironwood nodded, impressed. "I understand that it is a great asset both in and out of combat, so I'm curious to know how you apply such a skill outside of it. Would you mind showing me?"

"No, General, I don't mind." She put a finger to her cheek and tilted her head to the side. "I suppose I could start with reading your face?"

"My face?" Dubious, he raised a brow. And so did Specialist Schnee before they both shared a look. "Very well."

"Wonderful," Lilly clasped her hands and looked at Ozpin. "Ozpin, you've never told me anything about the General, have you?"

Ozpin nodded. "Just that he is one of my most trusted friends and associates."

"Good, good." She nodded sagely before locking her dimly lit eyes with General's gaze. "You are... James Ironwood, 36 years old." She stood from her seat and sauntered over to him. "General of the Atlas Military and Headmaster of Atlas Academy, all basic and public information."

The General nodded.

"You're dubious of me, testing whether I'm as competent as Ozpin presents despite his confidence. You're thinking about the time you saw me decimate all those Grimm in the forest from a live video, aren't you? Wondering whether I'm that same girl or not. I don't believe I'm acting far too differently from then and now, am I?" She stood in front of him and stared unflinchingly at his eyes. "And you..." She grinned. "...are going to grab my arm if I walk any closer than this, yes?"

Specialist Schnee froze from where she stood, her hand stiff in the air before she could even reach halfway, eyes wide and alarmed as she stared back at eyes that never even moved to her direction.

"Very well." Lilly presented her empty hands for everyone to see and took a step back as she finally locked gazes with Specialist Schnee. "Let me read you instead. Just a warning, it will be _very_ uncomfortable for you."

She blinked back at the younger girl and before she could say a word, Lilly cut her off.

"Specialist Winter Schnee, Yes?" Lilly closely eyed her. "May I call you Winter?"

Winter looked to her superior and blinked several times, unsure of how to react. Still, she managed to nod her head once and that was all the consent Lilly needed.

" _T_ _rès bien!_ " She said in her native accent, bowed her head and scraped as she was wont to do. Though, as she did so, Karen gave her an odd look. "My name is _Aliciel Lillianne Le Fiora de La Vernillion_." She raised her head and winked at the older woman. "But please, everyone calls me Lilly. So it would be my pleasure if you would call me as such."

Confused by the eccentric introduction, Winter could do nothing but nod. "Lilly it is, then."

" _Merci!_ " Lilly righted her posture and leaned close with a curious hand to her cheek. "Now comes the uncomfortable part. _Excusez-moi_."

"Excuse me?" Winter blinked, her confusion growing for every odd accent and words she heard from the odd girl.

"22 years old?"

Winter regained her composure and deigned not to dignify Lilly with a response but, alas, it was Lilly. None can lie to Lilly. And Lilly could hold a verbal conversation with a mute that could neither read, write, nor sign. So Winter was internally flabbergasted when Lilly appeared so sure of herself and continued the _conversation_ on her own.

"Weiss's older sister?"

"..."

"And you were the original heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, correct?"

Winter's eyes narrowed at the girl, though she simply took it as another form of confirmation.

"But you escaped by enlisting into the military at a young age! My, how bold!"

" _...!_ "

"You have a deep hatred for your father..." She walked to half an arm's length away from the alert specialist, quite uncomfortably close in Winter's honest opinion. "And," She quickly snapped her fingers right next to Winter's face, making her flinch ever so slightly. Lilly caught the subtle change and smiled just a wee bit wider. "a deep fondness for your younger sister that you would never admit to her as well as great disappointment and worry over your younger brother."

"Y-You-"

"What's his name?" Lilly leaned her face closer but backed off before Specialist Schnee could back away herself and answer. "Ah, Whi-..." Lilly drawled, gauging Winter's reactions. "Whit? Whitley? Yes? No?"

Winter glared at Lilly, unable to comprehend how a girl she'd never met was reading her like an open book.

" _Yes_ , Whitley."

"..."

"13 years old? Living with your _loathsome_ father and _inebriate_ mother?" Lilly raised her hands in front of her defensively while smiling slyly. "Ah, those are your words, correct?"

" _You-!_ "

"And now you wish to arrest me for interrogation." Lilly sent Ozpin and Glynda a wry smile while taking a few steps back with her hands raised to show she meant no harm. "A little help before the General gives the go and gets me arrested, please? I'm curious about Atlas' interrogation rooms but I don't think now's the right time to go there."

"What have you been telling her, Ozpin!?" General Ironwood asks accusingly.

"Just that you are one of my closest friends and associates." Ozpin set his mug on the table and gave General Ironwood the most serious look he could muster. "Mind you, I only spoke about you with that one line and absolutely nothing about Specialist Schnee. Everything else she said, she either learned from books or the internet." He leaned back on his seat, relaxing while taking his mug in hand and sipped once. "Or from reading your faces."

"All that from reading our faces?" James scoffed. "You _must_ be joking. And one I didn't expect from you of all people. How does she know all this? If she knows more, then the danger she presents is-"

"James, you know _full well_ that if I was joking in a meeting _this_ important, Glynda would have sternly reprimanded me already."

James sent Glynda a dubious gaze, finding the fact that the woman had indeed kept quiet all throughout and had done nothing but take note of everything that had happened so far as any good secretary would. He looked back at the wryly smiling girl. Her body language clearly stated her intention to harm them — or lack thereof. Sighing, he massaged his temples and gestured for Specialist Schnee.

"At ease, Schnee. Let's listen to her explanation for now."

Specialist Schnee sent her superior a dubious gaze at before hesitantly nodding while she glared daggers at Lilly. "Sir."

"Thank you." Lilly sighed with a hand to her chest. She took her seat once again and smiled as apologetically as she could. "I sincerely apologize for the discomfort, however, I figured that any less would not have been enough to make you believe me.

Just as Ozpin mentioned, I did read about you from books and the internet. However, we all know the extent of the information the public knows about you. So the only way I could have possibly known about your more privately held information would be...

1\. I'm a spy, which I'm not, but I can only prove that with Ozpin's help, I believe.

2\. My Semblance is mind-reading or something of a similar nature — which, I will say now, isn't. My Semblance is Astral Projection. Glynda can confirm it for you but more on that later.

3\. I can read your facial features, body language, and, via expertise in the psychology of the human mind and behavior and a tiny bit of manipulation, learn what is on your mind."

The two Atlesians' eyes went as wide as their disbelief could let them, however, dubious as they were, they remained silent.

"I've studied enough psychology papers to minimize my errors down to 0.5% on average." Lilly leaned back on her seat while sipping her coffee, saucer on her lap. "Any questions?"

Surprisingly, the one who first voiced their question was the Headmaster of Beacon himself.

"Yes, actually. I've been wondering ever since and have been meaning to ask."

"Yes, Ozpin?"

"How exactly did you read me?" He set his hands clasped together on his desk, hiding his mouth from view. "Not to sound as if I'm singing my own praises, but I have much faith that I am a difficult man to read. Not only that, but you also read me quite thoroughly — more than anyone's ever read me so far. It simply boggles me, how did you read me? And I don't believe you were simply _reading my face_ , as you would put it."

Lilly met Ozpin's gaze and with a curious glance. "I'm sorry, has it been keeping you up all this time?"

"I don't believe you need my verbal answer to that question."

"I'm terribly sorry." She scratched her cheek. "But before I answer, I pose a question: Have you heard of Laplace's demon?"

"Laplace's demon?" Ozpin reiterated. "No, but it sounds ominous."

All eyes looked back at her in puzzlement and curiosity, even Karen.

"I thought not, I just wanted to confirm." Lilly smiled knowingly, she then smiled mischievously. She winked and waved a finger at Ozpin. "A girl has one or two secrets she needs to keep, I believe. It won't do to tell you about _all_ of my trump cards when I'm positive that everyone here still has _some_ hidden from the rest of us."

Ozpin sighed, raising his hands defensively with an understanding smile. "I can't deny that."

"However," Lilly's smile bore fangs, almost feral in the same way a certain tall redhead did. "I _will_ tell you that it involves determinism and a certain demon in my old world."

"The Laplace's demon?" Ozpin clasped his hands and leaned on his desk with his elbows to eye the girl more closely. "To reiterate, it sounds quite ominous. And quite magical." His eyes narrowed at the girl. "Is it?"

"On the contrary, Headmaster! It can't get any more scientific!" She laughed, earning doubtful eyes from everyone in the room aside from the doctor. "Remember determinism, headmaster, _nomological determinism_."

"Now's a bad time to be enjoying it this much, Lilly." Karen shook her head with a sigh.

"I can't help it, Karen! It's such a _wonderful_ feeling introducing various things from our world to theirs." Her eyes gleamed with a childlike curiosity. "Though there are a lot of similarities to Earth, ever since I came here, I've learned so much already! I can't _wait_ to test them out and apply them once I get some time off! I will be borrowing your forge and laboratory in the future, by the way." She winked.

Lilly's lighthearted mood wasn't shared by everyone in the room with the general and the specialist feeling more and more contemplative as the meeting went longer. The longer he observed the girl, the more enigmatic she appeared.

"Now then!" Lilly perked up cheerfully. "As for our intentions, it is to go home to our world." She caught the very subtle eye twitch of a certain blonde across her and quickly her mood plummeted, though she managed to maintain a dignified front. "We obviously don't belong here and would like to return. Ozpin holds one of the keys to that but he is reluctant to use it because he believes that he needs all his trump cards in your fight against _her_."

Lilly studied their faces for a bit. She saw mild surprise from the General as she expected when she implied that she knew of their war. One of them understandably showed genuine confusion since she was a citizen of another world. But she was surprised when one of them appeared genuinely confused as well despite their attempt to hide it.

"General?"

"Yes?"

Lilly sent him a questioning look before sending her gaze behind him with a raise of her brow before looking back at him with a tilt of her head and another questioning look. James was confused for a moment before realizing who she was referring to and the question she laid out for him.

He hummed in thought with a hand to his chin and stayed contemplative for a moment. "Ozpin, may I?"

"Are you sure?" Ozpin narrowed his eyes at him.

James almost immediately nodded resolutely. "I trust her with my life."

Ozpin sighed and gave his nonverbal consent.

James nodded gratefully. "Specialist."

"Sir." She straightened her posture to attention.

"Take a seat."

Confused, Winder paused to try and make sense of the cryptic exchange that had been going on between them before she quickly took a seat next to the General.

"Sir." She sat upright, her posture taut.

"What I'm about to tell you is highly classified. Only those _deeply_ trusted by Ozpin know about."

Winter felt pressured by the intense gaze she was receiving from her superior but she nonetheless managed a nod.

"And while you don't directly work for Ozpin, I work with him and you work for me. And so far, you've proven yourself exceptional with your job and I consider you one of my most trusted men."

"It is a great honor to hear, sir."

General Ironwood nodded and shut his eyes momentarily, pressing his lips in a thin line. And, with the help of his associates, revealed to her the machinations of their inner circle.

* * *

After a few minutes of Winter silently listening to everything, Specialist Schnee understandably needed time to take everything in. However, due to time constraints...

"We can speak more of this at length at a later time." General Ironwood concluded. "And any questions you have, feel free to ask by then."

"Thank you, sir."

"Moving back, thank you for waiting, Lilly."

The black-haired girl simply smiled back with a gracious nod. "Returning to the fight against _her_ , I proposed to Ozpin a few things. One is that we will do _all_ the heaviest lifting. _All of it_. We will do the espionage, the intel gathering, the vanguard, the retreating, everything. You will tell me everything — the who, the when, the where, the why, and the how, in that order. In exchange, we will spare no effort in-"

"Excuse me?" James could not help but scoff and interrupt. "Am I hearing this correctly? You wish to lead the effort?"

"Of course. It's my area of expertise." Lilly smiled confidently. "But not in the sense you're-"

"And you're okay with this, Ozpin?" He shot the headmaster a disbelieving look. "A girl you _barely_ know, who somehow knows _your secrets_ , is taking over your operation — _our_ operation — and you're okay with that!?" James slammed his fist on the table, leaving cracks and spilling its contents on the floor. "Don't you see the _absurdity_ and _danger_ you're putting all of us through!? How could you _possibly_ trust a little girl you've only just met!?"

But before Ozpin could speak in his defense...

"You did not let me finish speaking, _General Ironwood_."

Her voice reverberated through the room almost as if it took over everything.

The air grew thick, heavy.

Stifling.

The tension was palpable. The ringing in his ears threatened to make him go deaf and the hammering in his chest made him worry that his heart would burst right out.

He looked at the girl who, just moments ago, was courteous if a bit mischievous, polite, and generally welcoming, and all he found was a woman with an aura of pure domineering. One who did not take _no_ for an answer kindly.

She quietly set her cup and saucer down the table but the sound felt like it rang multitudes louder through the still and quiet room.

"You suspect me of being an enemy, that much is understandable — reasonable, even. I'm no one you know and so most certainly, no one you trust. Yet." Lilly smiled and it sent a chill down his spine. "I commend you for that."

She relaxedly lifted her leg and crossed it over the other while her gaze never left him.

"I'm a girl no older than your graduates, and I'm no stranger to being underestimated, so that much is fine. It is how my world works and to expect otherwise here is simply childish and naive as I've gathered." She shot him a cold, taunting, yet tantalizing smile. "However, I do not speak these words lightly. I will give life and limb to make sure that your people are as safe as they can be, and our endeavor a success. Hard to believe, I know." She playfully rolled her eyes.

And with a perky clap of her hands, she dispelled the oppressive atmosphere with a charming smile...

" _Soooo_ , I'd be happy to show you what I'm capable of if you would simply give me the chance. I'm a girl of many talents, General Ironwood. It is not _overconfidence_ , nor is it _arrogance_ , that lets me speak to you like this. I know what I'm capable of and I know what you need."

...and a cutesy tilt of her head.

"So I beg you, would you not deign to give me a chance?"

General Ironwood and the rest took the time to take stabilizing breaths as they all gave each other looks. He put a hand on his chest and felt for his slowly calming heart and after a moment, nodded hesitantly as the glare in his eyes only intensified.

"Very well. Show me what you can do."

" _Splendide!_ " Lilly let a wide and genuine smile spread across her features. Eagerly, she leaned towards the table and eyed both headmasters. "If I may suggest, why don't I take care of your most pressing immediate concern? Of course, for me to succeed, I would need full cooperation from both headmasters."

Meanwhile, Glynda sighed and shook her head as she fixed the crack on the table and set aside the food that fell on the floor with a wave of her finger.

"And that is?" General Ironwood skeptically raised his brow.

"The White Fang presence in Vale, yes?"

Ozpin and James shared amused and bemused looks. And while James simply nodded his silent consent, Ozpin voiced his.

"Very well." Pleased, Lilly peered over the rim of her cup, finding that it was already empty. "Karen, anything to add?"

"Nope." Karen shook her head, her eyes cast down on the table.

Lilly smiled curiously. "Really? You look like you have something to say."

"Oh, I do," Karen smiled, meeting her gaze, "but it's nothing important to the meeting, Lilly."

The look Lilly received gave her pause, her smile freezing for a fleeting moment. "Alright." She stood and made herself another cup.

"Let's talk privately later, okay, Lillianne?"

When she turned to return to her seat, she was looking up at the ceiling and her lips were pressed to a thin line. "W-Why don't we move on to the next thing on the list?"

"Which is?" Karen sighed and shook her head.

" _The warrior angel, the lone scarlet huntress, the dragonslayer_ ," She sat back in her seat and set her saucer on her lap daintily before taking a sip. "or so the media has coined."

"Oh, dear." Karen rolled her eyes and shook her head at the laughably recognizable people the names were referring to. "You're loving this _way too much_."

"I like _my_ name," Lilly giggled. "I'm not much sure about the others though." She waved with a hand. "But we digress."

"You wish to know how we will handle revealing you to the public." Ozpin guessed.

"I have my own ideas but I'd like to hear yours before I present mine. Also, if you're wondering why there's very little being tossed around despite the reporter that was immediately on the scene, well... I have my ways." Lilly grinned mischievously and stuck her tongue out.

Ozpin nodded with curiosity in his eyes. "Hm. With your consent, I wish to present _Avatāra_ as a highly elite team of a huntsman and huntresses I've personally gathered. The story will be that I recruited all four of you after learning of your individual skills and that I would have had you registered under the Vale Huntsmen Guild already if the Grimm hadn't attacked."

Lilly hummed in thought while the rest nodded their heads. "That story begs the question of why we didn't just do that in the first place. Tielle has been with you the longest, your students would wonder why you took so long to do it."

"Correct." Ozpin agreed. "There's an easy answer to that but it's also why I've yet to give a proper statement. I want to straighten out our stories to avoid confusion."

Lilly nodded. "How about the General? What do you think?"

James looked at her curiously and took a moment to pause and think. "Personally, I only know as much as the rumors about you go, so Ozpin's scenario works well, in my opinion. However, do understand that this opinion is wholly underinformed. In most cases, these sorts of statements are merely for the purpose of PR to appease the public. So in the end, doing nothing might just be your best course of action in the long run."

"Hmm. Winter?"

Winter looked at Lilly in surprise. "Yes?"

"Now that you're a part of Ozpin's circle, I'd love to hear your input." She smiled and sipped. "I will be asking you two the same question too."

Both blondes looked at the girl unsurprised. Karen expected to be included as she always had been whenever she and Lilly met up with various people. Glynda, on the other hand, expected it simply as it was part of her job as a secretary and an integral part of Ozpin's circle.

Winter paused with a hand to her chin, her eyes sent to the floor.

"From what I've heard in the news, the most popular theory is that the three of you were hired by Headmaster Ozpin because he expected the surge of Grimm beforehand. That the headmaster himself sought you out as a preventive measure for the onslaught, which explains Ms. Margory's quick response to the situation. However, there are a _lot_ of mysteries concerning this case, and one of the biggest is how Ms. Margory lured all those Grimm away."

She paused again and gauged Lilly's response to her conjectures so when she saw that she was simply smiling back at her, she continued her train of thought.

"Consequently, that question lends credence to the theory that Headmaster Ozpin _knew_ of the onslaught beforehand because people guessed that her Semblance was the ability to lure Grimm to her, and that you specifically sought her out because of it. That goes for Mr. Armas as well — he was the only one that kept the Wyvern at bay — which, again, supports the theory that Headmaster Ozpin knew this was going to happen. There was also your performance to ease the people as they watched the live, quite ingenious."

Lilly giggled, taking Winter's words as a compliment. "Why do you think the people are guessing that the headmaster knew beforehand?"

"Because people think that Beacon's response was far too quick and that what happened was far too lucky. I certainly do. All three of you were in the right place at the right time. It's quite the conspiracy."

"I see." Lilly nodded and set her cup and saucer on the table in front of her. She leaned back and clasped her hands together on her lap. "Now, what do you think?"

"With all of that said, I believe that General Ironwood's second proposal is indeed the best case. But if we should follow Headmaster Ozpin's proposal, it will need some refinement."

"Do you support this scenario as well?" Lilly asked the last two with a curious glance.

There was silence for a moment with the two waiting each other out to see who wished to speak first.

"I don't support it," Karen spoke plainly. She looked at Lilly gesturing for her to continue. "It's a good idea, yes, but as someone who's worked with Lilly, I don't think she'd go with it. Personally, I think it's not a bad idea as a bandaid but the big problem is that it gets convoluted down the line if we don't handle it carefully."

Lilly shook her head lightly with a laugh. "Thanks for spoiling."

"This isn't a game nor is it a movie, Lilly." Karen reprimanded.

"It isn't, but you took away my shock factor."

"You're not shocking anyone here."

"I don't support it either," Glynda interjected without looking up from her scroll as she typed out the minutes of the meeting. "Giving out answers will only lead to people asking more questions. It's true that it's important that we ease and settle the public's minds about this, but unless we know that they're ready for the truth," She paused again, giving Lilly a knowing look that the girl reciprocated. "Or at least some semblance of it..." She spoke normally again, resuming her typing as she focused on her scroll. "I believe that there is nothing to say. Let them speculate. Right now, it is a hot topic, given another week or so, it will surely slip out of everyone's minds."

"Thank you, Glynda, you just said what was on my mind."

Glynda simply responded with a curt nod.

"Oh, so she gets thanked while I don't," Karen mumbled.

Lilly chuckled. "I thanked you for spoiling, didn't I?"

Karen rolled her eyes.

Lilly gave everyone a short glance. "Just as Glynda said, I don't fully agree with the idea. A small white lie paints itself bigger as time passes, I believe."

Ozpin nodded with a knowing smile. "I can't say I didn't expect that kind of response. I, too, thought that there would be a better way of dealing with the media."

"You have a Plan B?"

"As all leaders should."

He stood from his seat and walked to the window and peered below, hands placed on his cane in front of him. He let a few seconds pass with only silence stirring in the air of the office. He let a small smile appear over his stoic expression.

Lilly smiled wryly after reading his body language with an inkling of his thoughts on her mind already. Glynda shook her head in exasperation after one glance at her boss before immediately returning to recording the minutes of the meeting. James waited expecting nothing, Winter kept herself from speaking her curiosities, and Karen kept wondering how long the suspense was going to last while munching on a sandwich.

He turned after some more seconds passed, and with a confident smile, sat back in his comfortable headmaster chair, sipped his coffee, let out a contented sigh and leaned back with legs crossed.

"I will let Avatāra handle it."

"You intend to do nothing, in other words?" Glynda asked without looking up.

"Well, no-"

"In that case, a job well done should be rewarded accordingly."

All eyes turned to Glynda as they looked at her confusedly. Again, without glancing up, she carried on with nonchalance.

"Because you will do nothing, you will get nothing. Orders for your incoming batch of coffee beans will be halted until you've done your job. But do not worry, Ozpin, I'll be sure to keep them safe and fresh until then."

Ozpin looked at his secretary frozen and wide-eyed.

James did the same for a moment until he held a hand to stifle a chuckle in his seat.

Winter was utterly puzzled at how a mere secretary could hold her boss's obvious favorites as a hostage — a much-lauded huntress and an extremely talented secretary, but a secretary still.

Karen nodded her head in understanding and acceptance.

And Lilly feared for her well being.

"Karen..." Lilly spoke softly.

"Yes, Lilly?" Karen smiled brightly.

"Please don't." She muttered, no, _begged_ softly.

Karen held her thumb up and swiftly drew a line across her neck. "No."

Lilly, after taking the gesture to mean " _eat shit and die_ ", threw herself on top of Karen and clung to her tightly. "Please, I need them! I need them to function properly!"

"Until you stop messing around, you won't be getting any." She smiled brighter. "In fact, I'll make sure to whip you _all_ in line now that we're together again. You, Tielle, and Bardy — you've had your _fun_ without me to watch over you but I'll be setting you straight now that _I'm_ here."

Lilly shot Glynda a teary-eyed, mouth-pouted, lip-quivering look.

"Master Carol, please, I'll do my best!" Lilly pleaded, burying her face in Karen's shoulder. "You won't even get a chance to complain once I'm done!"

"Then you will get your coffee once you're done."

" _Noooooooo!_ " Lilly wailed, deflating in her seat like a withered flower. "You're killing me, Karen. You're doing this to me knowing I'm French and can't stand the day without my morning cup."

"I'm sorry but what's 'French'?" Asked James.

Lilly wiped her tears with a sniffle. "It's my nationality. I come from a place called France in my world and as a French person, coffee is an integral part of my life." She shot Karen a pitiful look. "Pretty please? Can I at least get my morning cup?"

" _One_ morning cup."

"One morning cup, yes?" Lilly's eyes gleamed with a little bit of life returning to her eyes.

A little bit of hope.

"One _normal-sized_ morning cup, yes." Karen shot her a knowing grin.

That was utterly shattered within moments.

"My disappointment is immeasurable." Lilly sat lifelessly. Her head hung to the side as she cast her dull eyes to the floor. "And my day is ruined."

If one observed closely, one would see the moment when the girl called Lillianne lost all the light in her eyes.

Glynda paused, feeling slightly guilty that Lilly suffered as a byproduct of her punishment towards Ozpin's inaction. She was taken out of her minor guilt trip by someone clearing his throat.

"Glynda?"

She shot him an unimpressed look but stayed as professional as she could. "How may I be of service?"

Ozpin tapped the tips of his fingers together with his elbows on the desk, nodding, mulling over his next words.

"How much do I have left?"

"At your usual rate," Glynda paused. "a day."

Ozpin pressed his lips in a thin hard line. With some deliberation, he opened his mouth to speak. "Shall I make you a deal?"

"No."

"Is that so?"

Glynda's eye twitched as a fraction of her bubbling anger made its way out of her system. She cleared her throat, glaring at the offending superior, and spoke in a slightly shaky voice. "You said, _'It is my failure as her boss that she was distressed so much under my watch.'_ "

Ozpin's complexion paled as bullets of sweat dripped from his forehead while Lilly's eyes gleamed with a grim curiosity.

Glynda continued, internally reveling in the fact that she made her illustrious headmaster's stoic facade crack. " _'I left her to deal with her companion simply because I didn't think that she would need our help.'_ "

It was Lilly's turn to involuntarily twitch her eyes at the words she just heard. Whether Glynda noticed or not, she continued nonetheless.

" _'I see now that I was wrong and I deeply regret my inaction',_ _End_. _Quote_. You said that _moving speech_ one hour before we sortied into the Emerald Forest." Glynda's piercing glare made Ozpin feel truly afraid of his assistant for the first time since he had her working for him. She opened her mouth to speak further but she was interrupted before she had the chance.

"Now, now!" Lilly loudly clapped twice. Her eyes glinted with a rueful look. "I understand your misgivings towards our dear headmaster, Glynda, but if you _must_ aim your wrath at someone," And her smile had a subtle melancholy she only ever reserved for her closest friends. She placed a hand to her chest and spoke with resolve after a sigh. "Aim it at me. Everything is my fault. None of it would have happened had I not asked for my Aura to be unlocked."

Glynda shot Ozpin another subtle seething glare while Ozpin slightly loosened the green cowl around his neck as he swallowed a lump in his throat before he settled back on his seat and donned a more dignified expression.

"It's no fault of yours, Lilly. None of us knew it would happen," Glynda spoke softly. She cleared her throat and wore the mask she always wore as the secretary of the headmaster. "Let's discuss this at a more favorable time — preferably with Tiella present and her memories regained. My apologies for letting my emotions get the better of me." She adjusted her glasses. "Please, carry on with the meeting."

Meanwhile, the doctor, the general, and the specialist couldn't be any more surprised and confused.

* * *

—14:26 hours, Same day  
Room 312, West Wing Dormitory, Beacon Academy

" _There's a place beyond the furthest cloud~_  
 _There's a message in the wind~_ "

Lilly sat by one of the beds with an acoustic guitar resting atop her lap. She strummed and plucked, swaying along with the wind, her eyes closed as she sang softly and gently.

" _And when you dream that big~_  
 _You're not afraid to live~_ "

Karen sat on one of the wooden chairs from the study desk in the room, dragging it to sit beside the bedridden Bardel, keeping a close eye on him as he slumbered.

" _There's a place where all the stories begin~_ "

Bardel had dextrose administered to him via IV drip and most of his body was covered in bandages.

" _Begin~_ "

Karen was wrought with worry. Even though she fully understood that her teammate was out of any immediate danger, she simply cannot help herself from feeling anxious until she confirmed with her own two eyes that Bardel was awake.

" _With you~_ "

Despite Lilly's word that he will be fine, she stayed by his side — lower lip bit, fingers intertwined, clenching and unclenching while frantic blues watched over every subtle change.

" _And me~_ "

So, Lilly, unable to watch her friend worrying herself to death, picked up the acoustic guitar she bought recently and played a soft and gentle melody to calm and uplift her dear friend's spirits even if only slightly.

Karen smiled when she heard Lilly's soft voice ringing melodiously from across the room which was quickly followed by gentle plucks of the guitar strings. She knew the song too — it's one of the songs she listened to the most whenever she wanted to simply kick back and relax — and she suspected that Lilly chose it explicitly because she did.

It was a duet too.

So, came the chorus, she let her tense shoulders ease and sang along, assuming the role of the other half of the duet.

" _There's a place beyond the furthest cloud~_  
 _There's a message in the wind~_  
 _And when you dream that big, you're not afraid to live~_  
 _There's a place where all the stories begin~_

 _Begin with you and me~_ "

Lilly smiled widely, cherishing the moment. And with an intimate understanding of the roles they played in their soft and gentle duet, she let Karen take over in the second part while she focused on the guitar.

" _Feels like the world is turning~  
A little bit too fast~  
_ _Holding on to what I get~  
To make this moment last~_"

Lilly almost halted her fingers when she heard the sadness and anxiety returning to lace Karen's shaky, breathy singing voice.

"Lilly?"

She was about to sing her part in the duet until Karen met her eyes.

"I have something to confess."

So she paused her plucking altogether and laid her guitar to rest on the bed.

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about earlier?"

"Yes."

Without a word, she nodded for Karen to continue. Karen let out an uneasy breath, looked down and anxiously played with her fingers before shaking her head a little and meeting Lilly's eyes once again.

"I'm scared."

Lilly blinked back at her a few, preparing herself for what she was about to hear, she nodded again.

"The truth is..." Karen pressed her lips in a hard thin line, her right leg bounced unsettled. "...the truth is that I don't know what to do. I don't know what to feel." She paused again, taking in steady breaths as she gathered herself before continuing. "Tielle's memory loss? Her relationship with Glynda? With the kids at Beacon?" She lightly shook her head in disbelief and let out a dry chuckle. "Do you know how long it's been since I last heard her so genuinely happy? Don't tell me you didn't see Glynda's reaction when you mentioned our plans to return to our world."

Karen took another pause and looked at her hands, clenching and unclenching still. She looked up and found Lilly's steady gaze, making her pause again before she could even continue.

She took a breath and held it in, trying to gather her thoughts but she couldn't. "I-I really don't know what to do. I want her to be happy l-like all the stories I've heard here. Not everyone likes her, sure, that's only natural considering her personality but the general consensus is that she's well-liked by a lot of people!"

Lilly nodded, blank purples merely staring back at frustrated baby blues.

"Nothing to say?"

"..."

Karen clicked her tongue and looked away but she couldn't help but observe the girl with a slowly rising burning anger in her eyes. "I want her to be happy, Lilly, but I don't want to lose her just as much!"

"..."

She averted her eyes in frustration, darting around the room before pinning her glare on Lilly again. "W-What if she's _happier_ here? Do we bring her back with us? Back to where she's _public enemy number one?_ Back to where our _enemies_ are? Our _fucking dystopian planet?_ Lilly, last I remember before coming here, China nearly initiated World War III! Can you imagine a world war filled with Essentia users like us as soldiers!?"

"What...?"

Seconds passed until minutes came. The only sounds in the room were Karen's hard breathing, the ticking of the wall clock, and the soft breeze coming in from the open window, gently swaying the maroon curtains along with it.

"W-W-W-What if she says she wants to stay? It's plausible because she's head over heels for Glynda, right?"

"..."

"S-She fell in love at first sight with her _twice!_ I thought that just happens in crappy teen romance novels but look at her! She fell in love at first sight fucking twice!"

"..."

"What if she wants to stay? I-I don't know if I can bear to hear it."

"..."

"Even with all our enemies, Earth is still our home, we still have our allies. I-I-It's where our friends and family are, where our memories were built! And I'm really scared to hear what she'll say when she regains her memories! _It's tearing me apart!_ "

Karen clicked her tongue and scoffed when the girl remained silent. She turned from Lilly and decided to watch over Bardel again, her leg bouncing repeatedly. She heard the shifting of bedsprings from across the room and just as she curiously looked over her shoulder, she heard the sound of the guitar playing.

And like a song paused on a music player, Lilly continued right where she left off. She took a breath, looking down on the guitar resting on her lap as she let her fingers play softly and gently — her breathy singing voice melodiously dancing with the ambient breeze that colored the nondescript room with life.

" _I'd rather paint the world bright~_  
 _Than see it black and white~_  
 _It's never too late look up~_ "

Karen felt further slighted when Lilly merely continued her singing, so she frowned and turned her attention back to Bardel, doing her best to ignore the seemingly uncaring girl. But just as she was expecting to hear the chorus, she looked to Lilly in mild confusion when Lilly skipped to the next verse, singing in a beautiful vibrato that resonated her sadness well.

" _It may seem like forever~_  
 _But all hope's not gone~_  
 _And when your melody stops playing~_ "

Lilly paused and looked up from her guitar to eye Karen, her compassionate eyes offered solace and comfort, for she knew, and Karen knew, that there was nothing either of them could do.

And Lilly knew that, aside from her company and the song, it was the best thing she could do. So she smiled at the girl, gently urging her — _hoping_ — that she understood her.

" _I hope you sing this song~_ "

Karen responded with a reluctant half-smile, a teary-eyed acceptance of her dear friend's simple and warm gesture, her message heard.

"Did you really have to respond to me in such a roundabout way?"

"Mhmm!"

"And honestly, I don't understand how that answers everything I just blurted out. I need my therapist, Lilly."

Lilly chuckled wryly, scratching her cheek. "But you know what this song is about, right?"

Karen rolled her eyes. "It's about how those two girls spent their nights writing their songs, isn't it?"

"Wrong!" Lilly pointed with a finger, which earned a look of confusion from the blonde across the room. "It's about two girls doing what they really want to do. To express what they want to the world even if no one hears them — about two girls staying true to themselves, encouraging each other. It's their _Message In The Wind_."

Karen wiped her tears away with a finger and smiled wryly.

"See what I did there? Message In The Wind?"

Karen rolled her eyes.

"I said the title of the song at the end-"

" _I get it_ , Lilly. I'm _stressed_ , not _stupid_."

Lilly chuckled, feeling accomplished that she managed to pull a little bit of candidness out of her _stressed_ friend.

"Whatever. So you're saying you just want me to be honest with myself?"

"I want you to ask yourself what you really want."

"Very roundabout, Lilly." Karen narrowed her eyes at Lilly to indicate her annoyance, though the smile on her face expelled such fronts. " _Very_."

"But we were in the middle of a duet and I didn't want to leave the song unfinished! That's just _unforgivable!_ "

"Of course it is."

"Mhmm!"

"And you skipped a chorus."

"You wouldn't have sung with me if I didn't, would you now?"

Karen rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "No, I wouldn't have."

Lilly gave her a smile and a nod. "But when I continue now...?" She drawled, pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes with an expectant look.

Karen nodded reluctantly and sighed exaggeratedly. "Fine, you're right. I'll sing along. You and your eccentric ways win. It's no wonder we're your only friends."

"Oh please, you say that like you don't love me when it's obvious that you do." Lilly winked.

Karen scoffed. "Oh don't you _'oh please'_ me. You _totally_ stole that from Tielle."

"It's a good line!" Lilly smiled cheekily and shrugged.

Karen stuck her tongue out at Lilly, earning a giggle from her, and when Lilly played again, Karen sang along.

" _I'd rather paint the world bright~_  
 _Than see it black and white~_  
 _It's never too late look up~_ "

They both shared their laughter, Karen was facing Lilly much more cheerfully than before, and while her leg still bounced, it was all due to the strum of Lilly's guitar. She'd even snapped her fingers as she swayed and tapped her foot too.

Lilly was glad she could bring comfort to her distressed friend. So she poured her heart and soul into playing and singing. And she, knowing what came next, or rather, what came last for the song, let herself fall to subtlety, a supporting backup voice to Karen's chorus.

" _There's a place beyond the furthest cloud~_  
 _There's a message in the wind~_  
 _And when you dream that big, you're not afraid to live~_  
 _There's a place where all the stories begin~  
_ _Begin with you and me~_ "

Karen rested her chin on one hand, leaning over with her elbow propped on her crossed knees. She was grateful to Lilly's comforting aid, it wasn't the conventional response one expected, but it was very much like her friend to do so.

So, while she was focused on letting her heart out, Lilly whistled with the wind accompanied by the strumming and plucking of her acoustic guitar with the occasional tapping as she played the outro to their impromptu casual-turned-life counseling duet.

When Lilly finished, she set her guitar on the bed and walked over to Karen, gently pulling her up from her seat and into her arms — wrapping the smaller girl in a consoling embrace.

"I'm sorry, Karen. I'm so sorry." Lilly rested her chin atop Karen's head. "I'm worried about this too. I want to go back home, back to my family. I miss mama and papa. And I really want to bring Tielle back with us, make her see that our world isn't as bleak as she believes but..." Her embrace tightened a tad with no other way to release her pent up frustrations. "It's all up to her." She sighed. "I can't do anything but support her."

Karen reciprocated the embrace, enveloping the taller but younger girl and gently gripping the clothes on her back as she buried her face in Lilly's chest. "It's okay, it wasn't your fault. And I'm sorry for getting angry. Of course, you'd feel that way too." She sniffled. "B-Because you're right! It _is_ all up to Tielle! Gosh..."

"I'm... I'm really sorry, Karen... I even swore to you that I would bring Tielle back."

"It's-" Karen sniffled, wiping another tear away. "It's fine. I was a mess back then but that doesn't matter now. We're together. The four of us are together again."

"Yeah." Lilly pulled away, cupping Karen's cheeks with her hands and gently wiping vestiges of tears from her fair face. "We are."

Karen laughed and nodded at Lilly's reassurance, holding the hands that held her cheeks. "Look at me, I'm 22 years old and I'm being comforted by someone 4 years younger than me. I'm your senior in life now but our roles are reversed!"

"Wait, what?" Lilly blinked back with her eyes open wide as saucers. "Did I hear that correctly?" She held her cheeks and met her eyes a bit more intensely. "Karen, look at me. _You're 22 years old?_ "

Karen's eyes widened with her mouth hung open. "Right, I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you since we're dealing with so many issues all at once."

"Is that why you said that thing about China earlier!?"

"Y-Yes?"

"That's actually very important, Karen!" Lilly broke away from the hug and paced the floor, her mind racing. "This raises so many questions!"

"Like what?"

Lilly turned to Karen, the intensity in her eyes magnifying. "Why we're here!"

Karen's eyes widened at the implications. Lilly nodded at Karen's enlightenment and so continued pacing the floor.

"You're saying it's not an accident that we're all here?"

"Possibly!"

"Possibly?"

"Yes! I'm not sure yet, but look, it may not be an accident that we stumbled upon those relics back on Earth."

"S-So, what, you mean us being here is intentional?"

"Remind me again how you came to Atlas."

"I-I..." Karen jogged her memory as she tried to calm her racing mind. "We found more of those relics you found, hidden in other tombs a couple hundred meters away from each other."

"How many of them did you find?"

"Including the one you found, four. The second and the third ones we tried to reverse engineer. We thought we could just pull you back in somehow but that ended up in failure so..."

"So you came here using the last one."

Karen nodded dejectedly. "I came here using the last one."

"So, four in total."

"Yes."

"And there are four of us from another world right here, right now."

"This isn't just a coincidence, is it?"

"But we didn't need to use the others to get here. In fact, we only needed one to have three of us transferred here."

"Yes, but it turned to dust right after you and Bardy disappeared."

Both of them paused, pondering over the facts, or rather, speculations and conjectures they've made. After some minutes passed, they both sighed in frustration.

Karen took a step back and followed another train of thought. "So you believe that this is definitely not just an accident, right?"

"Yes." Lilly shook her finger at Karen while her eyes darted the floor as she paced around. "Yes, yes, it's what I'm thinking. Someone or some people wanted us here."

"Some people?"

"Do you remember what Ozpin and Bardy told us about the day my Aura was unlocked?"

"That you were possessed by lots of things?"

"Yes! I don't remember anything at all past Ozpin unlocking my Aura but they told me, with Bardy's full confidence, that I spoke and acted _far too differently_. They said I was speaking as if I had a _million_ different voices altogether."

"And you think these... _voices_ are the things responsible for all of us being here?"

"Yes, yes! Ozpin said the voices mentioned a lot of things and while speaking to Bardy, one of the things they mentioned is that the _three of us were yet complete_. That soon, we will reunite with the chosen of the Lioness!" Lilly paused in her steps and turned to face Karen once more.

"What, excuse me, what? I-I don't understand."

"Other than _The Lioness_ , others were mentioned. _Bull Demon King_ and..."

"And...?"

" _And...!_ "

"Lilly?"

" _Argh!_ " She shook her head and hands in frustration. " _Putain de merde, I can't remember!_ "

"Can't rememb-" Karen was taken aback by the swearing. "What do you mean you can't remember? That's absurd, your memory is _far_ better than the elephants!"

Karen didn't speak French but she knew _precisely_ when someone was swearing in French. And based on what she knew, that specific phrase Lilly blurted was way up there. So when Lilly, the girl who rarely swore, swore with such disdain, she immediately had a clear picture of the frustration the girl was feeling.

" _Gah!_ " Exasperated, Lilly tossed her hands up. "I appreciate the reference but I swear that I really can't remember! Argh! It's just like that blank memory in the forest!"

"Blank what?" Karen shook her head quickly. "Okay, you know what? Let's just go back to that when you remember. What else do we have?"

"Okay," Lilly breathed deeply and sighed. "Okay, okay... okay." She pressed her lips in a thin line while switching tracks to follow a different train of thought. "Whoever they are, they gathered us here."

"What makes you think we were gathered here?"

"I-I don't know." Lilly shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Gut feeling."

"Gut feeling?"

"It's just- Haaaaaa... I need to know more."

"Alright, fine, let's talk about that later. What else?"

"Okay, so, think. Who are we?"

"Who are we?" Karen paused in thought. "Well, we're Avatāra."

"Avatāra, right." Lilly snapped her fingers. "And why did we choose that name?"

"We chose it because you said that our..." Karen's eyes widened again as the cogs in her head turned to connect the dots as Lilly repeatedly snapped her fingers at her. "...Essentias are some of the strongest in the world, reminiscent of the strength of gods!"

Lilly nodded fervently. "Yes, _yes_. Exactly. _Our_ Essentias are some of the most developed at the time among others that classify us near the top. Particularly you, Tielle, and Bardy."

"But hasn't God Eyes evolved as well?"

"It has but I don't believe it's merely because of God Eyes that I'm here."

"Your talents."

"My _potential_." Lilly stared intensely. " _Our_ potential."

"Okay, but isn't that just circumstantial at best? What makes you so sure that there isn't anyone back on Earth before I left that is far stronger than any of us already?"

"Because those voices mentioned that they needed to gather us here."

Karen sat back down as they slowly realized the gravity of their situation. "And those voices could be..."

"Look, you're 22, yes?"

"Yes."

"But you look like you haven't aged a day since I last saw you, why do you think that is? Did you even cut your hair? Ever noticed your hair growing or not?"

"N-No, I never noticed because..." Karen's eyes widened in fear.

"This is just a hypothesis, but I believe it's because Healing Touch has altered the way your body works. I believe that it's evolved to the point that it slows your metabolism."

Karen's eyes darted as she recalled all the changes that had happened to her. "I don't feel hungry much these days and I tire less now, yes."

"Case in point." Lilly snapped her fingers. "Now, Bardy's has become explosive, not just in scale, but at the rate he's evolving. He'd eventually become unstoppable assuming he hasn't reached his limits."

"Oh my god." The utter dread she felt shook her voice like a leaf in the wind. "That's actually terrifying."

"I know!" Lilly held Karen by the shoulders. "But listen, Tielle's, on the other hand, hasn't changed much at all — understandably since she barely ever used it this entire time. But, based on this previous incident alone, it proves that her Essentia, _without even evolving_ , is _still_ the _most powerful among us_."

Karen couldn't help her intake of breath at the implications.

"If she learned to control it, she'd be the _ultimate saboteur_."

"And whoever these people are, they need our strength."

Lilly sighed. "I'm afraid it isn't just our strength they need."

"Then what?"

Lilly took another deep breath and pressed her lips in a thin line, averting her eyes. "I don't know." She clicked her tongue. "Perhaps I already do and I just need to piece it all together." She looked out the window and paused. "Perhaps I should pay the headmaster a visit, alone."

"Ozpin? And why alone?"

"Yes," Lilly held her chin. "I'm sure he knows more than he's letting on and that none in his circle actually knows about them."

Karen nodded, her lips pressed in a thin line, pondering about what she could do. "I suppose, for now, I'll look after Bardy."

" _We'll_ look after Bardy. Ozpin can wait. And besides, Tielle's memory hasn't returned. I'm sure it'll return in a few days, some weeks at most, so we have some time to plan things through."

"Okay." Karen sighed. "Gosh, this is..." She hid her face in her hand and slouched. "...more stressful than I thought. I thought we'd all just help Ozpin out and we'll be done. This is so much to take in."

"Hmm." Lilly sat down on her bed and grabbed her guitar once more. Smiling cheekily, she ran her fingers through the strings once. "Care to sing with me again then? It's so _stressful_ after all."

Karen looked at her between her fingers and let out a dry laugh. She leaned back on her chair and crossed her legs. "I'm good, thank you, but by all means. I know how much you love the arts."

Lilly's response was to start playing gentle, soft, and melodious tunes on her guitar once more.

"To be fair,"

Karen turned her head towards Lilly.

"When you said that you had something to confess, I thought it was something wrong that you did. You have to choose your words more carefully, Karen. I almost thought I had to hide a body." Lilly grinned cheekily.

Karen shot her a disbelieving look. "Do you really believe that I would need anyone's help with hiding a body?"

" _Touché._ "

"Mhm. By the by, you were really... _babbling_ back in the meeting — talking about a lot of unrelated things. I'm guessing you're very stressed and you've had little to no way of venting recently?"

Lilly froze for a bit before letting her shoulders sag as a sigh escaped her. " _Je suis désolée-_ "

"English, please."

"Right, I said I was sorry. You're right, I _am_ stressed and have had _little to no_ _way_ of de-stressing. That's why I bought this guitar!"

"Mhm, and has it helped?"

"I don't know, I would've preferred a grand piano but it wouldn't fit in the room." Lilly smiled cheekily, playing a playful tune with her fingers and the six strings. " _Buuuuut..._ you were the one that needed a therapist earlier, you tell me."

"Well, I need a better therapist." Karen bit back just as cheekily.

"Who needs a therapist when you have a friend like me?"

"You're exactly the reason why I need one."

Lilly laughed and shook her head. She resumed playing somber and warm tunes. "But, on a different note, it's quite fascinating."

"What is?"

"You haven't aged a day at all."

"Do you think I'm lying?"

"If that was a lie, then congratulations, you're the _first_ person to successfully lie to me ever since I gained my vision."

"You believe me then?"

"Do you have a reason to lie to me?"

"Can't you deduce that just from looking at my face?"

"Quite so. But, again, do you have a reason to lie to me?"

Lilly smiled when Karen shook her head at her question.

"And that's why I find it fascinating. The one thing kings and scholars have been murdering humanity for since the beginning of time, and it's merely a byproduct of Healing Touch."

"That's what I'm thinking too and it's making me worry. I feel anxious, Lilly. What if I-"

"Worried you'll become a biological immortal the more you use your Essentia?"

"Yes. _Yes_. What if I don't age? Like, _really_ don't age? What if we all get to 70 and I'm the only one still looking like this? What if I get to 70 and I'm the only one standing in front of your graves? What if I get to 70 and-"

"Then don't use it anymore."

"H-Huh? That's a little callous, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. The three of us have Aura now. My regeneration is almost on par with Healing Touch. Tielle can recover from all non-fatal wounds with just her Aura alone and Bardy's the same."

"But the thing is, without you _or_ me, Bardy is still in a fatal condition. These wounds would have killed a man a long time ago already."

"Without you _and_ me? Yes, I agree. Without you _or_ me? Hmmm, not so much."

"But if I _don't_ use it, what's my use to this team anymore? I didn't ask for this... this _immortality_ , Lilly. I just want to _help_ people. I don't want to _kill_ anymore, I want to _heal_. I want to help, I want to-... I just-..."

"..."

"What's the point of me even being here if I can't even heal you? Heal Bardy? Now, when he needs me the most? What the fuck is my use anymore...?"

"Master martial artist? Mentor to me, Tielle, and Bardy at hand-to-hand? Your master, the late "Bullet Fist Roberta", who was known to be draconian in her teachings, believed that she had nothing left to teach you at the tender age of 17 when she spent a _lifetime_ mastering her techniques before she was labeled a master by her predecessor, and another lifetime _more_ to perfect them.

Tielle told me how your master said to you that your technical mastery of Flicker Arts makes you a right master of your own already. You just need to keep going, perfect your technique on your own like she did, yes?"

"Well..."

"Also, unparalleled marksman? Experienced spy? Skilled front-liner? Well-mannered? Well-educated? Diplomatic? Charismatic? Gorgeous? Amazing singer? Kids love you, adults respect you, politicians in our world fear you!"

"Are you sure you're not talking about yourself? Just about every pompous pencil-neck disrespects me left and right."

Lilly gave her a brow and a smile that clearly expressed her disbelief at Karen's own disbelief. She pondered about rebutting her words but decided not to.

"Even without Healing Touch, you're well versed in medicine and physical therapy for someone who only picked up books about them back when you were 14, you just need experience. You're an actual, genuine genius, Karen!"

"Hearing _you_ of all people calling me a genius is..."

"I-I know that it sounds like I'm tooting my own horn, but please exclude me, don't mind me." She nearly paused in her strummings and pluckings but she managed to keep herself from coughing into her hand. "P-Please always consider me as both the _exception to the rule_ and the _exception that proves the existence of the rule_."

"Lilly that's contradicting."

"I realize that but-"

"Besides, you would be lonely if I excluded you, right?" Karen smiled sympathetically.

"Well..." Lilly smiled back the same way. "Putting it that way makes me feel even lonelier, you know? It makes me think that you're only my friend because you're pitying me."

"You and I both know that's not true." Karen insisted.

"Just hearing you _acknowledging_ me is enough for me."

"Alright."

"So it's fine, I know that the three of you genuinely don't care about that." Lilly smiled cheerily, the sound of her playing reflected the true joy and gratitude in her heart, translated by her fingers and the six strings of her acoustic guitar. "It's why I, from the bottom of my heart, love you three the most!"

"..."

"Aside from my parents, of course." She winked, earning a chuckle out of the older woman.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"T-Thank you, Lilly."

"If you want a list of your good points, I can write them _all_ down in sticky notes and leave them all over the walls so you-"

"T-That won't be necessary, thank you."

Lilly giggled while Karen shook her head shyly but she straightened her posture and donned a more dignified expression, though the blush on her face remained.

"But I don't think that that's enough. If all of you are giving it your all, then I should give it my all too. At the very least, I shouldn't refrain from using it for your sakes."

"I won't stop you. Whatever your choice is, you have my full support. Just be sure to report anything to me, okay? Whatever happens. I wish to understand our Essentia. For _all_ our sakes."

"Okay." Karen crossed her legs and arms. "Let's talk about something else." She started, catching Lilly's look. "What was that with Glynda and Ozpin in the meeting?"

Lilly's fingers halted abruptly, the look on her face devoid of her ever-present smile. She looked down on the bed while hugging her guitar closer to her. And in a soft and shaky voice, "It's all because I'm a curious monger."

"What do you mean?"

Among the ambient gentle chords and soft breeze, a soul stirred, groaning in pain as he shifted in bed, catching the attention of the two ladies who'd been watching over him all this time.

* * *

—16:45 hours, Same day  
Office of the Deputy Headmistress, Beacon Academy

Glynda Goodwitch sat by her desk, organizing student files and preparing material for the upcoming semester. She was also creating a new training program for Combat class based on Lilly and Tiella's spar as well as the way some of the student body had begun training without Aura.

Incidentally, a lot of the sophomores and freshmen students were displeased when they heard that teams CFVY, RWBY, and JNPR were invited for the mission for juniors and seniors, but after seeing their performance from the live feed and Ozpin's own set of stealth drones scattered throughout the forest to observe Grimm activity, they had no choice but to accept that the decision was not made out of bias nor nepotism.

But even before the incident, there had been a great increase in the number of visits in the infirmary since the boom of Tiella's No Aura Training Policy. Luckily, there hadn't been any serious injuries like a broken bone yet, so before it could come to that, Glynda decided to step in and provide guidance and guidelines.

But before that, she had to make a presentation for Ozpin and gain his official approval. After gaining approval, she'd need to consult with the mercenary team for advice. She also decided to try it out herself.

She'd been at it since the meeting ended nearly three hours ago and had since been deep in focus, but now that the hard part of her day was over, she could not help from letting her mind float away.

Case in point, she'd been checking her scroll for notifications every so often. The last time she did so was the 34th time she had done so since she returned from the meeting. And much like _all_ the previous times, there wasn't any notification — at least, any notification that she was expecting from a certain someone.

Sighing, she checked the clock on her desk, reading 4:47 pm. She clasped her hands together and hung her head, dragging out a sigh. She looked at her work and since she began, she'd made a sizable dent on her workload.

 _"Since when did I ever fixate on someone this much? It's unhealthy, bordering on obsession, even._ _I've never spoken to Ozpin like that. I must reflect on this properly, regain my composure."_ She sighed. _"I've been a mess lately. It's unprofessional and highly unbecoming of me. Am I, dare I think it, unraveling?"_

She shook her head in disappointment and clicked her tongue.

 _"I need a break. I've done a lot of work today, I can take it easy and pick it up tomorrow. And that's exactly what I need, taking things easy. I can already hear her telling me to just kick back, relax, and have a drink."_

She stood with her hands on her desk, stretching her neck left and right to work out the kinks.

 _"A drink. Of course. Something calming, relaxing — ease the nerves and let loosen my tense shoulders. 'Let my hair down', in her words."_

She recalled the first time they shared a few cans of beer in their apartment. It was the most relaxed she'd been in months.

 _"I wonder when we'll do it again."_ Nostalgic, she smiled at the memory. _"I can't wait."_

But immediately, her smile fell as soon as she remembered Tiella's predicament, nostalgia replaced by melancholy.

She gathered her personal effects and hurried out of her office into the staff's breakroom to have a light snack and a drink, cold brew possibly but a hot cup of tea would work just as well.

Upon entering the breakroom, she was quickly greeted by Professor Peter Port.

"Miss Goodwitch! Good day to you. Would you care for some tea?"

She sighed thankfully while taking a seat. "Thank you and good day, Professor. Yes, I'd like one."

"The usual, I gather?" Port looked over his shoulder while preparing a quick cup of her favorite.

"No, actually," Glynda said, earning a double take from her mildly surprised colleague. "Do we have jasmine?"

"Jasmine?" Port reiterated. "Why, yes we do." He answered quickly while making the order, happy to serve while Glynda patiently waited. "I'm honestly quite surprised."

"Yeah, that _is_ surprising." Peach joined in. "Don't you usually go for something strong and bitter?"

Glynda eyed her curious colleagues and let out a tired sigh despite the smile on her face. "I just feel like going for something that will make relaxing easier."

"Oohhhh, I get ya." Peach nodded, sipping on her orange juice. "Even though it's the middle of the sem-break, it feels like we've only just started takin' the _actual_ break."

"True," Oobleck interjected while Port finished up on Glynda's order. "I wanted to focus on my findings but now I can't even return to the excavation site because of the destruction in the forest." He caught the frozen look over Glynda and quickly laughed it off. "Oh, fret not, Professor Goodwitch! I understand that drastic times call for drastic measures! Had you not sealed the lava flow, Caroberta would have been burned to the ground! And with most of our 4th-year teams on away missions at the time, we had very few to rely on that could truly deal with an unprecedented gathering of Grimm impromptu!"

"Hohoho, that's right!" Port laughed jovially. "Imagine if teams QRTS (Quartz) and OSMM (Osmium) were present that day, we would have dealt with all of them without the need for Tiella to lure them away! But, alas, I can't say I'm disappointed in the results. With only 72 students, 4 professors, and 3 mercenaries, we held out through most of that dangerous situation with all of us ending up injured, minor and major combined, and suffering _0 casualties!_ I don't need to tell you that that's nothing short of a miracle!"

Glynda recalled the parts of the mission they had only disclosed with the professors. Particularly, the fight against the alleged malevolent god that took over Tiella.

"Yes, you're right." She sipped and savored the subtly sweet and fragrant scent of jasmine tea to ease her rising nerves. Recalling that time always reminded her of her nightmares. Thankfully, the tea served its purpose. "It _is_ a miracle."

"Right! QRTS and OSMM! They're the only teams that can coordinate well enough with you in combat training, isn't that right, Professor Goodwitch?" Peach clapped her hands in recognition. "Very talented students with exceptional teamwork, it's no surprise that they're the top two teams in all of Beacon."

" _Exceptional teamwork_ only works well to describe Team OSMM," Glynda corrected lightly. "Team QRTS is more aptly describable as four business partners in a team that somehow produces outstanding results without truly working for the benefit of each other. They treat being in the same team as healthy competition, a rivalry of sorts."

" _Except,_ " Port interjected, "for Ms. Briar."

Glynda sighed. "Regardless, I have no doubt that each member will go their separate ways as soon as they graduate." She lightly massaged her temples while sighing tiredly, _again_. "They're the equivalent of Calamity-level Grimm in terms of giving me headaches. I just hope they mature enough when they go out into the world. I can't imagine the insanity they'll drive people into."

"So they're Calamity-level headaches, then?" Port slapped his knee as he boisterously laughed. "Quite fitting for Beacon's very own team of elite problem children! If Earth's got Avatāra, we have QRTS! Hahahaha!"

" _Exactly!_ " Peach yelled, surprising the rest as she pointed at Port with a finger. " _Problem children!_ They're _problem children!_ Especially the leader, Quetzal Coatlus! He's Problem Child number one! _Gosh!_ "

All professors expressed their agreement in their own ways the moment the name was mentioned.

"Causing _multiple_ large explosions using Fire and Ice Dust in the laboratories!" Peach crossed her arms angrily. "And I still don't understand how he did it! There were frozen flames that simultaneously _burned_ and _froze_ the desks! I don't know whether to call him a genius or a fool!"

"Letting loose and killing all the captured Grimm I had into the sparring arenas by himself!" Port stuffed his stache with a sandwich. "It took me weeks to capture them and I prepared them for the entire semester! I had to improvise that entire semester too!"

"Shattering _all_ the windows and lights in combat class." Glynda shook her head at the memory of her headache. " _Always_. For his entire freshman year, he couldn't control the output of his semblance."

"Destroying a thousand-year-old chalice from the Vale Museum of History on one of our field trips!" Oobleck's nostrils flared as he raised and shook his finger. "It was the _only_ thing in the world that was safely recovered from the ancient Sanolian Civilization! The rest were stolen and sold in auction houses!"

"And Problem Child number two would be Rosea Briar, wouldn't you agree?" Port added.

And the consensus was split. Oobleck nodded in agreement, Glynda quickly shook her head, and Peach paused in thought.

"I've never seen her awake of her own volition," Oobleck commented. "And yet it's not as if she has narcolepsy. She's a fascinating case, that one."

"Despite that," Port continued. "She's never failed to submit her homework on time, never scored lower than 93% on all her written exams, and never lost to anyone in the practicals aside from her partner, saying ' _What's the point of competing against my partner? Not only is it dumb, but it's also too much effort_ '."

"That's the most I've heard her say in a sentence, honestly speaking," Oobleck recalled. "She typically answers in yes, no, or maybe, regardless of whether it was a yes or no question in the first place."

"Yes, I don't believe I'll ever forget about her even long after she graduates," Port added while playing with his mustache. "She was asleep in her first class with me and she's been asleep since then."

"In my opinion, number two should be Mr. Sylphy Zephyrus." Glynda pointed. "Slept with over _half_ the school's female population by the time he reached his sophomore year. And that number is _still_ rising today."

"No, no, no." Peach shook her head. "I think it's Tundra Frostjack. She's always actively competing with Coatlus!"

"Nevertheless, you can't deny their strength, skill, and ingenuity. These children are either always top marks across the board or exceedingly well in one subject but averages at best with the rest." Glynda reluctantly admitted. "It boggles me how it's always the highly skilled that are the problem children."

"You got _that_ right!" Peach laughed.

And it was the beginning of an educator's favorite pastime during breaks spent together with other educators.

Namely, exchanging anecdotes and light gossip about their students.

While they all exchanged their experiences with the problem children, the generic tune of a scroll ringing three times took their attention away from the conversation.

Glynda checked her scroll, which she left on top of a table next to her cup of tea, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the caller ID as Tiella Margory. She quickly glanced at her colleagues and found them curiously looking at her.

She hurriedly picked up her scroll and moved towards the door. "My apologies, I need to take this call," She said as it rang another three times once again before walking out and shutting the door behind her.

Port, Oobleck, and Peach shared glances with each other and all smiled knowingly before returning to their prior conversation.

"Despite Team QRTS's problem children, the most peculiar has to be Team OSMM for me after all," Oobleck said.

Peach nodded vigorously. "It's a team made up of two pairs of twins! What are the odds!"

Glynda, after a couple of brisk paces exiting the building and heading into the garden courtyard, finally picked up the call after it rang a third time.

She put her scroll right next to her ear and frantically answered. "Tiella?"

* * *

—20:01 hours, Same day  
Room 312, West Wing Dormitory, Beacon Academy

"SON OF A FUCKING _BITCH!_ "

Bardel's face met the floor faster than he anticipated — which he didn't at all. Because he, against Lilly and Karen's friendly _and_ medical advice, tried standing as soon as he regained consciousness.

To his mind, as long as he was conscious, he could do anything he put his mind to.

And, _voila_ , teeth met wooden floorboards.

He looked up and saw Lilly's boots, one of them tapping impatiently. He looked further up, and to some people, viewing the gorgeous figure of her crossing her arms under her rather bountiful bosom while giving her this friendly smile that reeked of disapproval would be...

* _clears throat_ *

... _mind-altering_.

"Would you prefer I strip to give you a better view? A peek of my underboobs? Or are you going to get up and have dinner with me and Glynda?"

Bardel clicked his tongue and pushed himself up to stand, only to flinch from the pain of applying pressure over his yet-to-heal hands. Luckily for him, Lilly expected it, so she pulled him up and had him sitting on his bed.

"I'm fine." Bardel avoided meeting Lilly's gaze. "Didn't need your help."

"I suppose it was just my imagination when you planted your face on the floor? Again?" Lilly bit back. "For the _6th_ time today, I might add?"

"Then why the fuck do you want me to go with you on this fuckin' dinner if you know I can't even stand to walk?"

"Well," Lilly scoffed. "you kept _insisting_ that you were fine, so I was simply giving you a chance to prove me wrong." Lilly sighed and ran a hand on her face and brushed her raven locks up. "Bardy."

Bardel shot her an annoyed look but nonetheless remained silent before looking away.

"Bardy? Would you please look at me?"

Bardel sighed and met Lilly's gaze as requested. He expected her annoyed look but what he found instead was one of regret. He felt Lilly's hand gently placed atop his left hand — not enough to cause pain but enough for him to understand the meaning of her gesture. She was trying to be sincere like she always did. He was surprised when it was her turn to send her gaze down on the floor in silence, but when she spoke, she met his again.

And with a soft and shaking voice, "I'm sorry."

His immediate reaction was to blink several times at the girl without saying anything.

"All of this is my fault." Lilly looked away in shame. "Your wounds, Tielle's memory loss, Glynda's trauma and her complicated relationship with Tielle... _everything_." She sighed and hung her head low. "And it all started because I was just _so_ unbearably curious and eager about the kind of Semblance I would have as soon as my Aura was unlocked."

"Nah."

Lilly looked up abruptly with eyes wide in disbelief. "Nah?"

"Nah." Bardel looked away, eyes half-closed in both boredom and annoyance at the girl. "You're making no sense."

"W-What do you mean I'm making no sense? Trace it back, Bardy, this entire mess started because my Aura was unlocked! Granted, I didn't know it would happen but-"

"Exactly, you didn't know it would happen. Not your fault, case closed, shut the fuck up."

"But-"

"Lilly, just shut the fuck up and have dinner with Glynda already."

"Bardy, listen to me-"

"No," Bardy turned, his frustration going through the roof. "this time, _you_ listen to _me_."

Lilly clammed up as she backed away the moment he loomed over her.

"You're pinning everything that happened on yourself, _again_." He thrust a finger on her nose. "Did you already forget whatever the fuck Tiella told you? Wasn't that the entire point of the two of you fuckin' arguing the first time? You kicked each others' asses for the exact same reason you're kicking your own ass right now!"

"U-Umm, I-"

"No! I told you to listen and shut the fuck up! I'm _tired_ of you taking all of the blame, Lilly! You might be capable of everything but that doesn't mean you're the reason everything ever fucking happens! Do you really think you're _that_ great? _That_ fuckin amazing? If you're so god damn awesome, why don't you fuckin' heal me now without Karen's help? Why don't you figure out what Essentias really are? Why don't you take us all home right fucking now? Return everything to fucking normal so I can be with my family again!?"

"I-I..."

"Oh, right! YOU _CAN'T!_ Because _you_ can't fucking do everything, _Lillianne_. Grimm came because that fucking _bitch_ doesn't know how to use her Essentia. I came out like _this_ because I was so goddamn fucking _angry_ that I didn't give a shit about anything standing in my way! Literally! Didn't give a shit that I put my goddamn foot knee-deep into the fucking puddle of Grimm blood when I knew it would fucking melt my skin to the goddamn bone!"

"I-I'm sor-"

"And I don't even know Glynda that much but I can tell she's blaming you for _fuck all_. All you stupid fucking goody-two-shoes have your heads so damn far up your goddamned asses blaming yourselves for everyone else's mistakes as if the world revolves around you."

Lilly couldn't utter a word in with how surprised she was with Bardel's tirade, especially since it rarely ever happened.

"NEWS FLASH, _DUMBASS!_ THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU! SO SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT ALL THIS BLAMING YOURSELF CRAP, STOP BEING A FUCKING NARCISSIST THINKING YOU'RE EVERYTHING THE WORLD NEEDS, AND GO HAVE DINNER WITH GLYNDA BEFORE I SHOVE MY FOOT SO FAR UP YOUR ASS I'LL KICK YOUR TEETH OUT."

There was a moment of silence between them when Lilly couldn't help but simply stare back at Bardel's green eyes glowering back at her in frustration while Bardel breathed heavily after his entire speech. After a moment when his breathing had steadied and much of his anger had subsided, he sighed and looked away, shaking his head.

"I fucking bet that if Tiella had her memories, she'd be all up in her smelly cunt blaming herself for everything too. I know it, I just fucking know it. For a cold-hearted merc, she's as big a fucking softie as you."

Lilly, stunned with her mouth slightly hung agape, blinked back at Bardel's face. She slowly moved closer, moving her arms around Bardel inch by inch, subtly letting him know of her intentions. Bardel gave her an odd look before sighing again and looking out the window where the dim moonlight shone through. Once Lilly managed to embrace Bardel in a very light and gently hug with her head touching his chest, she let out a small giggle.

"Thank you, Bardy. I needed that. You're absolutely correct. It all started that day but that doesn't mean it's entirely my fault." She looked up and smiled at him. "But that doesn't mean none of us are at fault at all."

Bardel shrugged. "Just fuck off already, don't keep Glynda waiting any longer. Just bring me something to eat once you come back or something. I could just sleep here until you're back."

Lilly broke away from the hug and beamed a grateful smile at him. "What would you like?"

"Anything's fine."

"Really, I can make you anything. So tell me!"

They both shared a look for a bit before Bardel sighed again. "I dunno, curry or something."

"Curry, gotcha." Lilly nodded. "What kind?"

"Any."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Super sure?"

"Super sure."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Curry?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes."

"Ye-"

"FINE! GET ME SOME CHICKEN FUCKIN CURRY."

"Chicken curry for the angry and hungry Bardy!"

"Listen here you little shit-"

Bardel started but he was quickly silenced when he felt something tender and damp pressing on his cheek. Eyes wide, he turned his head to face Lilly and there he found rosy red cheeks on the coyly smiling girl.

Without meeting his surprised eyes, she muttered, "Tielle may be my best friend, but you're very important to me too. And I really appreciate everything you do for me. So, thank you."

With eyes closed, Lilly leaned in while softly cupping his cheeks and pulling his face closer to hers. He quickly realized what Lilly was attempting with how obvious her lips were slightly protruding to meet his own. So he did what any man would have done had they been in the same position as him.

"Ow!"

He flicked Lilly on the neck.

"Why!?"

"Just because it's normal where you're from doesn't mean I'll just go along with it."

" _La bise?_ " Lilly caressed her neck with a small pout. "That's just for greetings and farewells, Bardy. And we do it cheek-to-cheek, not lips-to-cheek _or_ lips-to-lips. And as is customary in most places around the world, lips-to-lips signify romantic interest."

"Bullshit."

Lilly scoffed playfully. "You distrust the French talking about French customs?"

"Whatever," Bardel rolled his eyes and laid down on his back on the bed. "You're keeping Glynda waiting."

Lilly pouted with arms crossed. "Do you really not want me here? Don't want to join?"

Bardel took a few seconds of contemplation, just staring at the ceiling before answering.

"I wanna be alone right now."

"Oh," Lilly's eyes widened in recognition and nodded with pursed lips. "I understand." She slowly walked towards the door while avoiding eye contact with him.

"...?"

"If you need material, I doubt you'll find any in this room, I already checked." She paused when she opened the door slightly, still not meeting his eyes even when he was already looking at her in confusion. "I-If you want, I could take some photos, you know, send it to your scroll, use it as you see fit."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Please, Bardy, have some modicum of tact! Don't make me outright say it!" Lilly looked up at the ceiling licking her dry lips.

Bardel simply looked at her the same way he looked at Lilly when she was explaining how quantum physics worked to him.

"I understand that boys need their, um, _alone time_ regularly, and with how you're rooming with two girls and seeing as you don't have any... _reference materials_ in the room, I'd be happy to provide your scroll with a few... umm, _s-self portraits_."

Her words clicked in his head and he, for the life of him, could not help his eye twitching from the absurdity of the girl standing by the door not meeting his eyes. He groaned and would have pinched the bridge of his nose if it weren't so painful.

"Lilly." He sighed tiredly. "Just-"

"I could also give you my lingerie." She nodded sagely. "Would you prefer them fresh or worn?"

"Just-"

"You know, Bardy, I don't mind and, in fact, I _completely_ understand that you can't help yourself since you're with three stunningly beautiful women most of the time. I'm also supportive of the act since it lowers the risk of prostate cancer so long as it isn't done so _frequently_ in young men."

"Jesus Christ."

"You don't do it frequently, do you? Because contrary to popular belief, frequent self-stimulation in young men actually _increases_ the risk. It only lowers the risk for men in their 50s. You should only do it 21 times a month."

"Stop."

"So, really, as long as you don't do it daily, it's _totally_ okay."

"Oh my fucking-"

"A-And you could use _m-me_ as material when you're bored too! A-And if I'm being completely honest, I've also used you as fodder for self-stimulation a few times already and-"

"Just- just-" He breathed in a deep and shaky breath, once again wondering whether this moment was the accumulation of all the choices he made in his life. "Just fuck off." He sighed the words out in pure exasperation.

"Come now, no need to be shy! I could even give you a _hand_ but as your doctor, I advise that you do not do it until you're well. I don't believe it'll be as pleasurable as-"

"HORNY LITTLE SHIT, JUST FUCK OFF AND GIVE ME SOME SPACE, I NEED TO THINK!"

"Eep!"

"SCRAM!"

And the door hurriedly shut close.

He sighed and let himself sink down the soft bed and closed his eyes.

"Everyone in my life is fucking horny, Christ."

For the next few moments, he'd stayed unmoving from his position lying backside down on his bed just staring at the ceiling just thinking of everything he'd experienced so far.

And so far, the most prominent memory was the fact he split a massive dragon in half with his bare hands. Second to that was how Tiella laid waste to every single one of them even when Lilly had gone all out to stop her.

 _"How the fuck did that happen? Possession? Like that time at the clocktower, right? But what happens next? Why pop up now? What's their goal? Were those actually gods? Do gods even exist?"_

He pondered over the question for a bit longer until he no longer could. Clicking his tongue, he sighed and let himself slumber out of boredom.

 _"Fuck the gods. Real or not, I'm kicking their asses when I see 'em. I'll let the three of 'em do all the thinking. In the meantime, I'll keep 'em company."_ He scoffed, a small grin gracing his features. _"They're fucking useless without me."_

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _How are we all doing in these trying times of quarantine and physical-distancing?_

 _Yes, physical-distancing. Social-distancing just sounds different in my head. As a former psychology student, what we need right now is physical-distancing and social solidarity._

 _Me, I'm doing fine. Binged a beautiful show called Carole & Tuesday, so there's that. I can only describe it as a love letter to music with how amazingly gorgeous it is. For a time, I was 50-50 about including a show from 2019 when the timeline in Lost Star's AU of Earth hasn't finished 2018 yet, at least when Tiella came to Remnant._

 _But I just really, really, really, really, really love Carole & Tuesday so I couldn't help it. I'm sorry!_

 _I also watched a lot of other shows and movies with the intent to gather material for future chapters and/or stories._

 _But that's enough about me! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter._

 _Stay safe, be kind, and switch to using a bidet._

 _See you next chapter!_


	38. Chapter 38

—07:08 hours, Thursday, 20th of the 6th month, 1215 R.A.D.  
Xiao Long Residence, Patch Isle

She breathed deeply and slowly.

"One..."

"Wrong."

* _Smack_ *

"Start over."

Filling her lungs with air.

"One..."

"Wrong."

* _Smack_ *

"Start over."

"One..."

* _Smack_ *

"Again."

"One..."

"..."

"Two..."

"..."

"Thr-"

* _Smack_ *

"Again."

And another smacking sound came.

That same scene had been repeating for the past 30 minutes.

Ruby was doing push-ups with Weiss, and Yang was alternating with Blake on assisting with sit-ups. Meanwhile, Tiella couldn't count past three push-ups with Karen sitting cross-legged on her back as she repeatedly interrupted her with a smack on her bum the moment she saw Tiella making the smallest mistakes.

* _Smack_ *

She was also answering the crossword puzzle segment of the morning newspaper while drinking coffee spiked with whiskey that she set on Tiella's head for ease of access.

* _Smack_ *

It was severely unnerving for Team RWBY to watch but at the same time, they couldn't thank the heavens any more than they could that Karen wasn't making them go through such a workout so extreme it went past _spartan_ and went _full draconian_.

* _Smack_ *

The only way they could think of to make it worse was if both of them wore weighted vests adjusted to add an additional pound every time Tiella made a mistake.

* _Smack_ *

The unbelievable part, however, was the fact that Tiella didn't seem to mind. There wasn't a single hint of agitation on her expression. She was just doing as told with a mechanical face. It was clear to all who observed that she was struggling but none of them could say that Tiella was doing everything begrudgingly despite the intensity.

* _Smack_ *

Handstands while Karen stood on Tiella's soles? She'd do a full split before asking her to " _do it again_ ".

* _Smack_ *

Hanging sit-ups on a high and thick tree branch while Karen tied a long sturdy cloth around Tiella's chest, armpits, and shoulders so she could use her to swing all the while, disrupting Tiella's movements by swinging wildly whenever she erred.

* _Smack_ *

Oh, and, carrying Karen on her back while doing full sprints around the small village in Patch before they officially began the grueling workouts among other things. Doesn't sound too hard until you mention the fact that Karen wanted to drink her first mug of coffee-whiskey without spilling it — Tiella was made to run a minute further every time it spilled.

She ran for 102 minutes compared to the usual 30.

* _Smack_ *

Even Tiella's warm-ups were weighted. She had to do jumping jacks with Karen sitting on her shoulders.

* _Smack_ *

So one might wonder how Tiella progressed through the workouts if she was being asked to start over for every minor error. Simple, excluding the morning run, Karen limited Tiella's workouts to 1 minute with 30 second rests in between — 7 minutes per rep.

* _Smack_ *

A minute passed and the Bumblebee pair have reached the end of their morning routine. They rested for a minute before moving on to cooldown stretches.

* _Smack_ *

"Uh, Doctor?" The younger blonde hesitantly asked.

* _Smack_ *

"Yes, Yang?" The older blonde responded without looking up from her crossword puzzles. She was idly tapping the butt of her pen on her cheek as she was deep in thought while casting glances over Tiella.

So she smacked her ass again.

Yang couldn't even flinch from the sound anymore unlike the first few minutes when they all began. It became rhythmic to her, disturbed as she was already. "Is that normal?"

"Hmm?" She wondered, still yet to look away from her crossword puzzle and Tiella's ass. "What is?"

* _Smack_ *

Yang couldn't help the sympathetic look on her face as she watched Tiella's sweat puddling on the soil beneath her. "That."

"That? What's that?" Karen wondered again. She paused to look at Tiella, then her wristwatch, then at Tiella again before finally getting off of her. "Enough. Take a minute, then cooldowns."

Tiella, breathless after everything, laid on her back limply, embracing the cool soil under the shade of the many trees around them. She couldn't utter a word with how hard she was gasping for air so she did the next best thing — nod limply.

All of Team RWBY mentally sighed in relief when they learned that they didn't have to watch _or_ hear the torturous routine any longer. Yang, after wondering how much time had passed since her break before moving to cooldowns herself, squatted down.

"Do you normally do your workouts like that?"

"Oh." Karen's face lit up when she finally understood Yang's questions. "That? No. I made that new routine just for her when she woke up. I had to factor in the fact that she has Aura now to make sure she isn't just maintaining her build but actually improving it."

"But I thought her Aura isn't up right now?" Blake asked as she stretched as far and wide as she could, which definitely caught the eye of the younger blonde with how flexible she was. She also noticed how the said younger blonde was shamelessly gawking at her.

She also didn't mind.

 _Much_.

"It isn't," Karen nodded while sipping her coffee-whiskey, "but this also counts as a preliminary test to see how much she could take. Tielle's memories may have regressed but that doesn't mean her body did too. Sure, she isn't moving the way she used to, but I have to admit, I'm quite surprised by her progress." She smiled proudly. "She never let up at all." She crouched down beside Tiella and beamed at her. "Good work today, Tielle! Take a shower after you're done with cooldowns then eat breakfast — I'll make something for you since you did really well today. It'll be well balanced, not like that crap you always eat — _Sloppy Tiella_." She scoffed, she may as well spit the words out too.

"Haohahuhaoeuhao."

"Yes, yes, there will be milk for you, you big baby." Karen laughed, to which Tiella flipped her off. She stood, stretched, and went back inside the house. "Spars start soon as you're done eating. We need you to catch up, Tielle. Because right now, you're our weakest link — Lilly's already beyond us, Bardy's equal to or less than her, I'm a healer, I don't need to train as much as you need to but I still kick ass, and then there's you."

The White Rose pair of Team RWBY finished up on their cooldown stretches and so they sat down on a bench nearby, which reminded Yang that she needed to start her cooldowns.

As Yang stretched, she couldn't help but comment on what she'd just witnessed with a wry smile. "Seems a bit harsh."

As she said that while she stretched, she half expected an answer from Tiella down on the ground taking deep breaths. When a short moment of silence passed, she simply chalked it up to the girl being a little too exhausted to be bothered to answer comments until later. But halfway through her cooldowns, she watched as the taller girl got up from the ground and started doing her own cooldowns.

"Depends." She heard Tiella say while twisting her back.

"It isn't for you?"

"Harsh implies that it's cruel." She grunted after hearing an immensely satisfying — or terrifying, depends on who one asked — series of pops from her spine. "I think lying to my face and telling me I'm doing fine when I actually need to do better is harsh. That kind of unnecessary kindness could just get me killed."

Yang nodded in agreement. "True, no room for improvement when you get comfortable."

"Complacent." Tiella corrected as she twisted her back the other way. "But yeah, same thing."

After hearing another satisfying set of popping sounds, Yang grinned and did so as well. Though, in her case, she opted to pull it off in two quick twists before ending her cooldowns with one long contented sigh. Meanwhile, Weiss looked at them both in a sort of hesitant morbid curiosity that Blake caught.

"Why don't you try it too if you're so interested, Weiss?" Blake asked as she grinned.

"And break my back?"

"It only hurts the first time," Yang added. "Just like-"

"Finish that sentence and you'll really get a broken back, Xiao Long." Weiss quickly bit, her cheeks faintly flushed.

"Feisty." Yang laughed, arms akimbo. "Threats in my own home."

"Wha-" Weiss stammered.

Yang chuckled even more and gave Blake a wide grin. "I don't feel safe in my own home anymore, Blakey."

"That's too bad," Blake deadpanned.

Meanwhile, Ruby was just chuckling beside Weiss, which earned her a disbelieving look from her partner.

"Why don't you stay and keep me safe from mean Lil Weissy?"

Blake eye-rolled and crossed her arms at Yang, though the blush on her cheeks only fueled Yang's grin to become wider. Though, before she could respond, Ruby called out to everyone.

"Come on, girls. We're done with cooldowns, right? Let's get inside and shower." She gave Tiella a hearty smile. "Celeste can go first."

* * *

Tiella felt a little squirmish inside when she heard the nostalgic nickname. It surprised her greatly the first time they called her that. It happened at dinner the night before. The mood was light and merry, and everyone was sharing jokes on the dining table. Then, out of nowhere, Yang called her by her intimate nickname from her childhood. The laughter died down when they all saw the shock on her face.

She calmed herself as best she could before forcing a grin in an attempt to return a bit of the lighthearted mood they had. "Celeste, huh? Did you girls think that up or did I tell you about it?"

Karen quickly picked up on her partner's intent and rolled with it with a light slap on Tiella's shoulder. "What's this about? An old nickname? How come you never told me about it?"

"What? Tielle not good enough for you?" Tiella asked in feigned annoyance.

"You'd think we'd know everything about each other after all the time we spent together."

"You spent most of that time beating me up."

"Don't say it like I was bullying you! We were sparring! And don't talk like you never fought back!"

"That's 'cause you're a cunt."

"I prefer the term _'better'_."

"See what I mean?" She rolled her eyes and eyed Yang from across the table. She caught the somewhat hesitant look from the younger blonde so she decided to give her a little bit of encouragement. "It's fine, I give you permission to talk shit at her, she deserves it. Sometimes."

"Hey!"

* * *

Snapping out of her jaunt down memory lane, she nodded towards Ruby in thanks. "I'll take you up on that then, but your bath's pretty big, I don't mind sharing."

"We do!" Yelled two voices — Ruby and Weiss.

Which was to be expected. One just went through puberty and the other was simply conservative, s̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶j̶e̶a̶l̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶T̶i̶e̶l̶l̶a̶'̶s̶ ̶c̶u̶r̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶p̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶u̶s̶c̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶L̶i̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶a̶r̶g̶u̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶ _b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶_ o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶u̶s̶c̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶i̶n̶t̶a̶i̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶v̶o̶l̶u̶p̶t̶u̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶f̶i̶g̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶u̶l̶t̶a̶n̶e̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶l̶i̶m̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶d̶m̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶c̶l̶y̶.̶

Yang laughed at the two while walking up to her sister. She gave Tiella a quick look and found a mixture of confusion and slight offense on her face that she did well to hide under an indifferent expression.

"Don't take it the wrong way, Celeste. They're just self-conscious because they're still _developing_." She grinned, hoping it would dispel Tiella's misunderstanding.

Which worked, based on the slight sigh and softening of her features. "Right, right, they probably wanna share the bathroom together for more than just that too."

Yang wiggled her brows at the two. "You know it."

"We will _not_ bathe together and you do _not_ know it." Weiss bit back, blushed pink as she stomped back towards the house. "If you're not going to take a bath first, then I will."

Tiella watched as Weiss almost slammed the door shut while Ruby jogged behind just in time to catch it before it did. Tiella laughed at the scene but her smile quickly fell off as she looked away and stared at the ground distantly. Yang and Blake caught the look, which in turn, brought them down from their merry mood just moments ago.

And just like they all agreed to do, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang would do all that they can for Tiella in their own subtle ways.

"So, why don't we wipe down, drink some water, and sit down in the living room for now?" Yang flashed her one of her signature reassuring grins. "Sure beats standing out here, eh?"

Blake smiled, walking back ahead of the two. "I could do with all of the above plus a book in hand."

Tiella smiled a little, nodding in agreement as she walked towards Yang. "Cold glass for sure."

Yang grinned a tad wider as they both walked into the house. "That sounded like you're looking for something other than water. Maybe some _amber liquid?_ "

Tiella chuckled. "Which kind are we talking about here? _Amber liquid_ changes depending on the place we're drinking 'em."

Yang leaned close and whispered low, but not enough that Blake wouldn't hear as they walked to the kitchen for a pitcher of cold water. "Don't tell Ruby, but I know where Dad keeps his and Uncle Qrow's _stuff_." She cast a quick glance toward Blake sitting on the couch and she could see the girl shaking her head in disapproval as she settled down and read her book.

"Yeah?" Tiella grinned, whispering in kind. "So really, what kinda amber liquid are we talking about here? Whiskey? Beer?"

"They got both and then some — beer's lukewarm but we got some ice cubes in the freezer."

"Hmm, cold glass indeed. When we doin' this?"

"Tonight? When the kids have gone to sleep? We could invite Doc if you want."

"She'd invite herself even if we didn't — Karen _fucking loves_ booze. She drinks it more than I drink milk."

" _Sweetness_."

Yang got the pitcher out of the fridge, and Tiella got the glasses. Yang poured one out for Tiella first. She and Tiella let out a _delighted_ sigh as they chugged their glasses down before setting them on the sink.

"Your old man fine with you drinking? Does he even know?"

"Funny story, actually." Yang laughed embarrassed, scratching the back of her head.

"He caught you, didn't he?"

Yang quickly nodded, chuckling at the memory. "I was 16, that was last year, when I found out where he keeps his stuff but it only took two days for Dad to find out that I took _one_ can of beer from his stash. _One freaking can_ — got an earful for that. Luckily, Uncle Qrow was there to calm him down, or else I would've ended up listening to him the whole night."

"Yeah," Tiella nodded. "Men keep their wives close, their whores closer, and their drinks closest."

Yang gave her a raised brow for that and Tiella quickly deduced that she may have been a bit offended at the subtle implications about his father.

"Nah, sorry, I mean-"

Yang laughed the moment Tiella appeared apologetic. "It's fine, I know what you mean. First time I heard someone say that, is all." She smiled teasingly.

Tiella felt a little miffed at being played like that, but she didn't mind — she liked Yang and it was clear to her how they became good friends.

"Now that I think about it, Uncle Qrow always keeps a flask with him _everywhere_."

" _Everywhere?_ "

"Mhmm." Yang nodded. "Schools, malls, churches, family gatherings, market places — you name it. Best part is, he was a teacher back at Signal Academy, it's where me and Ruby trained before Beacon."

Tiella laughed. "Sounds like the kinda guy I'd get along with."

"Actually," Yang's eyes looked up and around, squinting hard as she kept waving her finger at Tiella. "I think you mentioned before that you've met him."

"Yeah? Did I say when and where?"

"Ruby told me about it — last month, said you had a meeting with Ozpin at the time. She said that you said he looked like the kinda guy that needed another drink or two."

"I said that? Now I'm really curious about him."

"Sadly, he's away most of the time." Yang shook her head lightheartedly. "And whenever he comes around, he rarely lets us know beforehand and he always disappears in a day or two, three at most — a week was the longest."

"Is that right?" Tiella nodded in contemplation.

* * *

"Hut! Ha!"

And down came Tiella, crashing and rolling as if she was just hit by a car, only stopping when she hit a tree. She felt the air in her lungs escape her when her back hit the trunk but she spent no time getting back up, minding her footwork as she caught her breath in her very brief respite. She popped her neck both ways and spat out blood, wiping the rest off with her thumb.

"I expected you to perform less because of your memory loss but this is much worse than I thought, Tielle." Karen smiled tauntingly. "At this rate, I'd be better off training Team RWBY instead of you if I want results."

She wiped the blood trailing down her nostril with her knuckle and chuckled dryly. "Didn't you say you've been my teacher since Granny retired?"

And that resulted in a prominent vein popping up on her forehead as she forced a toothy smile up. "We wouldn't be having this problem if you were just quicker on the uptake."

"This is why I call you Karen, you're a narcissistic fuck. Your teaching style sucks ass if taunting me and failing is part of it." Tiella grinned cheekily while flipping her the bird — she knew full well how Karen didn't take kindly when her authority was being challenged. "Maybe I should look for a better teacher, yeah?"

She was about to talk some more trash but the next thing she knew, Karen was inches away from her, ducked low, and her right hand was slowly reeled back as she let out a slow breath.

Tiella flew through the tree behind her only to be stopped by another one just behind it. She felt her spine bend painfully from hitting it and dropped to the ground clutching her chest while taking harsh breaths. She coughed and spat out blood, wincing in pain the moment she took air into her lungs once again. She checked the area she was struck at and couldn't help but grimace at what she found.

 _"Ribs... fractured, one broken."_ She took another breath and winced in pain, coughing blood out again while the pain only stung over and over. _"The broken one pierced my fucking lung. Shit, Karen, you're fucking dead you sonuvabitch."_

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Karen worriedly looking over her.

"See, this is why I try not to go into spars with you anymore. You know how to take hits but you're not as sturdy as you think, Tielle."

Tiella felt the pain in her chest receding as her breathing became easier. After a moment, she took one deep breath and nodded, wiping the blood off her face with the back of her hand.

"Thanks."

"You're wel-"

Karen didn't get to finish her response due to her head violently turning away from Tiella's left haymaker.

"ASSHOLE!"

Karen dropped and skidded on the ground as she clutched her reddened cheek. "What the hell!?" She spat, more than just words as there was some blood there too.

" _YOU COULDA KILLED ME!_ " Tiella aggressively pounded on her chest, specifically the part she was struck.

Karen angrily stood, the swelling on her cheek visibly disappearing within seconds. She ground her teeth and walked up to the much taller girl.

"What the fuck kinda sparring is it if I gotta get my ass beat to an inch of my life, huh!? Do you actually hate me, Karen? Got something you wanna say to me!?"

Karen clicked her tongue and looked away. "You used to be able to take such simple beatings and dish back just as hard with ease."

"Well, _boo-fucking-hoo_ , Karen." Tiella paced away, hands thrown up in frustration. " _Sorry_ , I'm not as good as I should be." She paused in her steps, tapping at her head repeatedly in frustration.

Karen gasped, hurrying toward Tiella with a hand to her shoulder. "That's not what I-"

But Tiella turned sharply to face her before she could even touch her. "Alright, what _did_ you mean? Huh? Apparently, I'm so damn good already at this time but since I can't remember fuck all about the previous year, I dropped straight into your disappointment shitlist, ain't that right?"

"No!" She quickly shook her head. "No, Tielle! No!" Desperately, she grabbed at Tiella's shoulders tightly. "I-"

"Whatever." Tiella yanked her arms out of Karen's hands. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

Sigh...

My name is Celestiella V. Margory — that's Valmary, Celestiella _Valmary_ Margory. My mum's surname next to my old man's, it sounds nice. It's one of the reasons I keep the middle initial in my name.

Ahem, 18 years old, I think, probably 19. Last I checked, I was 17. Born May 18, 2000, I know that one for sure. Hope, Idaho, though I don't remember much about it anymore. Last I was there, crummy stuff happened, you don't wanna hear it, it'll bore you to death.

Oh, right, I forgot. It's 11:23 pm, the day is... Thursday, 20th day of the 6th month, 1215 R.A.D, that's Remnant After Dawn — they can't just make me say it's fucking June 20 or something, probably for consistency's sake 'cause new world, new rules or some shit.

...

This... diary thing — my handwriting is shit so fuck that, I'll just stick to voice recordings like this. Lilly thinks it'd help with recollecting my memory. I think it's bullshit but whatever, here I am.

Wait, god damn it. Am I doing this right?

Sigh...

...

...

...

...

Whatever.

Today is the first day of my diary. I'm at the Xiao Long Residence in Patch Island, Kingdom of Vale, Remnant.

StatRep: I only remember up to the time I just finished my morning spar with Karen in the Old Junkyard.

...

...

Around a month after Gramps fucking croaked.

...

...

* _thud_ *

Sigh...

...

...

I don't know what to say. I've been in this situation for a few days now but it's a lot to take in, probably why I'm only doing this now when I was told to do it as soon as possible, again, by Lilly, though Karen backed it too.

...

These _friends_ I've made are different from the ones I have before. They aren't just people in the same profession, acquaintances. They say they're _actual genuine friends_. People I've had _fun_ with. Can you believe that? _Fun?_

The only _fun_ I've ever had until now was beating faces in, getting paid lots, and one night stands with hot dudes and babes — sometimes both at the same time.

Now they're telling me I went out on walks, sparred, told jokes with them? I even treated them to lunch or something.

...

...

...

God... this is so... it's just so hard to believe.

It's so damn different.

The only thing that remained the same is Karen and the fact that I'm still keeping up with my training. But even she's acting differently from the Karen I remember.

The girls are good people and after a few days, I could see why I became friends with them. They're actually cool, particularly Yang but... the rest are kinda just nice, even that cranky white girl.

But...

...is this okay?

...

...

...

Am I allowed this?

...

...

It's... my spine fucking _shivers_ when I try to tell myself that this is somehow okay — my body actually _rejects_ my current circumstances. It's strongly telling me I shouldn't be here, and I usually follow my fucking gut because it's saved my ass dozens of times already.

...

...

...

...

...

...

This is wrong.

Being here is wrong.

It's just — _all of it_ — it's just wrong.

Fuck it.

...

...

What now?

I don't know.

I don't know.

...

...

...

Whatever.

That's the end of day one.

I don't know if I'll keep doing it — this.

Oh, and that drink Yang said we should have, didn't get the chance to do it tonight so I'm doing this shit instead. She said we could have it next time. That's it.

* * *

—16:04 hours, Friday, 21st of the 6th month, 1215 R.A.D.  
Xiao Long Residence, Patch Isle

A fiery glow flickered brighter, a breath taken deep. Deep, deep, deep — enough that her lungs were filled to expansion. She held it in for a moment, savoring the feeling in her system before slowly letting all the smoke out in one long and easy breath.

Tiella sat by the stairs of the porch, her upper body hidden beneath the shade of the roof while her lower half basked in the afternoon glow. She let herself relax, leaning back on her right arm propped to hold her slouched sitting posture. Her gaze wandered aimlessly as she took another breath of smoke from the cigarette held between her index and middle finger on her left hand.

She idly tapped the butt of her cigarette with her thumb to get rid of the ash build up on the tip, letting it fall off the porch. She hung her head back and shut her eyes, stretching her right leg down the two steps of the porch's short flight of stairs. And since her legs were a little over half her entire body length, her boot touched the dirt. Boredly, she swayed her boot left and right to a tune in her head.

 _"Milk is great for relaxing and all but cigs just hit it differently."_

She huffed another and blew the smoke towards the roof.

 _"Gotta thank Yang for letting me know where to get these. Feels like it's been a really long time since I last had one, feels oddly fresh, too, like it's my first time all over again."_

Remembering her short trip to the only of the few convenience stores in Patch made her remember the experience of walking there in broad daylight. It was one of, if not the most, surreal experiences she'd ever had.

People were smiling at her, some were pointing at her with this happy-surprised expression on their faces. And a handful of the younger crowd even walked up to her, shaking her hand and asking for an autograph or a photo.

Needless to say, she went through all of it stunned and dazed. So the rest of her trip up until reaching the nearest convenience store was done on auto-pilot.

 _"What the hell did I do to deserve all that?"_

She was taken from her thoughts at the sound of the door chime ringing.

"Tielle," Karen called, her voice flat and unamused. "I knew you went out to buy cigarettes when you suddenly said you wanted to go out alone."

She shot Tiella a pointed look as she loomed over her.

"If you're here to nag, then you just fuck right off," Tiella retorted while straightening her sitting posture, presenting her back towards Karen. "I'm not in the mood."

Karen scowled and remained unanswering. She crossed her arms and looked away for a bit before letting out a sigh and sitting next to Tiella, nudging her lightly with her elbow.

"I'm sorry about before." She said without meeting Tiella's face.

The girl's response was to merely continue puffing silently without giving her a look.

"I was impatient," She continued, taking the fact that she wasn't outright avoided nor was she being pushed away as okay. "I hadn't seen you in a _long_ time, so I guess in my head," She shrugged and smiled self-deprecatingly, lowering her head, "everything was alright and back to the way it was — even if we're not back home, even if we're here. I was just... I was really happy that I finally got to see you again."

Karen waited for some time but no answer came. Fearing the look her longtime friend could be giving her, she dared not to look anywhere but her clenched hands. However, when no verbal answer came, a gesture did instead. She looked to her left when she felt a light nudge on her arm, and she saw Tiella offering her a stick of cigarette sticking right out of the pack, though their eyes were yet to meet.

A small smile appeared on her face and a small bit of tension was relieved, she felt. She nudged back while taking the offered stick and scoffed lightly. "You know I quit smoking exactly _one_ day after I tried it, right?"

"Yeah, because you didn't stop until you felt nauseous. Almost like you have an addiction to substances, huh?"

Karen tapped Tiella's arm with the back of her hand a few times as she lightly bit the cig with her lips. "Well, _substances_ don't affect me much anymore so let's see if I'll get addicted to it like before," She said while gesturing to Tiella for the lighter.

It was only then when Tiella turned to meet her eyes and unsurprisingly, she was wearing a rather somber expression. What surprised her instead, pleasantly at that, was how Tiella was offering to do the honors of lighting up her cigarette. So, Karen smiled a little wider and inched her face closer towards the lighter.

She inhaled deep just as the tip was touched by the flame, igniting it in the process. She let out a slow and steady breath as she took the cigarette out of her lips and into her fingers, holding it the same way Tiella was, only in her right hand. Tiella looked at her from the corner of her eye while inhaling deeply as well. She smiled a bit and went back to relaxing when she confirmed that Karen wasn't there to nag like she suspected.

Tiella tilted her head back once more, letting her head hang as her scarlet twin braids coiled all over the floorboards. She shot up a stream of white smoke like she did before and savored the feeling.

She loved that feeling, it was, minor as the act seemed, liberating in its own little way.

Because unlike Karen who was easy to get hooked on alcohol and nicotine, Tiella could stop at any time. She didn't just believe it, she knew it — her mind knew it, her body knew it. She could let go of such things easily that she never once thought of them as vices, merely as simple things to enjoy. She, unlike most others she met in her line of work (even among her comrades), could go months without either.

But what made her stick with them, to continue smoking and drinking despite her casual relationship with them, was the fact that it was her way of liberation — in other words, stress relief when no better option was present.

The feeling of something strong and heavy — sometimes awful — entering your system, letting it flow through her body, knowing full well it was destroying her from the inside out little by little, and expelling it as if the smoke took out everything bad that was inside her. To her, it let her relieve some of the stress she didn't know how to relieve. To her, cigarette smoking was akin to taking the stress she had all in one place and letting it out using the smoke as visual confirmation that she was, slowly but surely, letting stress out.

Drink, on the other hand, was more for merrymaking and socializing. It wasn't mere stress relief, it was also her best way of socializing under any context. Tiella was never the type to walk up to a person just to make friends. And a lot of people's first impression of her was almost always in the negative spectrum of impressions with how tall, muscular, and vicious her look was for a girl. To some, she looked cool, but never a cool _beauty_ — and deep down, she had a complex about it, though she rarely showed it as was her tomboy personality allowed.

And when it came to drinking, it was fair to say that she could very easily hold her own — she didn't spend time with her old mercenary team just drinking milk after all. Also, with how they commonly drank beer in lieu of water to rehydrate (not a very smart thing to do) as well as how impressionable teenagers usually were, she took it as the norm and wanted to do the same. Her tolerance to hooch simply shot up since then.

And such thoughts brought back memories of very recent events.

"Hey, Karen."

Karen shut her eyes and let the smoke out through her nostrils and savored the feeling a bit more intimately than Tiella did. "Yeah?"

"I met my fans today."

" _Fans?_ " Karen smiled at her incredulously.

Tiella scoffed. "I know, I can't believe it either."

"Even though it happened?"

"Well, shit, Karen, I still can't believe I'm in another world and over a year of my memory was wiped clean."

Karen nudged her with her elbow as she chuckled. "I still can't believe you have an actual girlfriend."

Tiella looked away as she exhaled smoke to cover the fact that she felt a little shy when reminded of her bombshell girlfriend, though Karen didn't need to see her face to know that.

Karen laughed again. "So, tell me about your fans. What happened?"

"Thought you'd be more interested about Glynda since you brought her up."

"I can always talk to her about you so I'm good. We can talk about what we _hate_ about you and I can tell her all about the stuff we did as kids. Like that time we tried dating!" She fondly smiled in nostalgia. "That's how I confirmed I was straight so it's a nice memory for me."

" _Fan-fucking-tastic._ " Tiella deadpanned, her voice oozing with sarcasm while extinguishing her cigarette on the sole of her boot before flicking it behind her — to where a small trash can was. She took another stick out of her pack and lit it up. "Don't tell her about that, asshole, that's bad taste even for me."

"I was just _kidding_." Karen laughed. "That's our little secret."

"It better stay that way."

"Though I'm pretty sure Lilly's figured it out, you just can't hide anything from her."

"She's not into us, is she?"

"No, she's sorta into Bardy."

"Sorta into Bardy?"

"Your other best friend. She's got the hots for him but she likes to keep it cool between them I think." Karen paused. "Oh but I guess he's more your rival."

" _Rival?_ " Tiella gave her a look full of disbelief. "What the fuck?"

"Yep, he says you're his goal," Karen recalled fondly.

"Sounds like a fan."

"Maybe." She shrugged. "Ever since the first day he met you, he always wanted to win against you — it's yet to happen. But like I said before, Tielle."

"Yeah, yeah."

A moment of silence was shared between them as Karen savored another hit of her cig while Tiella contemplated a new (an old) fact (memory) about herself. Karen squished the cig on the floorboard and flicked it behind her, to a wall where it ricocheted towards the trash bin.

Tiella chuckled. "Well, well."

Karen looked at her confused for a quick second before realizing the look Tiella was giving her. She shrugged her shoulders, all confident and proud. "Well, what can I say, Tielle? I'm a changed woman."

Tiella laughed again before looking ahead of her, staring at nowhere. "Guess so. You'd have at least asked for another before you were done."

Karen lightly elbowed Tiella's arm which prompted Tiella to elbow Karen the same way. And thus, the 108th war of elbow-pokes began and at least 5 elbows were thrown from opposing sides during the Short But Great Elbow War 108.

"Tell me about your fans!" Karen said as she laughed at their childish antics — she dearly missed those.

"Oh, god." Tiella groaned though her smile didn't disappear. She shrugged and licked her lips. "Alright, here goes."

* * *

An old man sat on a wooden chair by his front yard underneath a tree. He was near the fence and was reading the newspaper despite it being a little over midday. His granddaughter was swinging a wooden tri-section staff and it was a sound he'd become used to over the past few years, he had become endeared to it, but lately, it was happening a bit more often.

He was proud of his grandchild for her diligence, however. Ever since a young lady in a white hood saved her from Beowolves a long time ago, she'd had the idea that huntsmen and huntresses were _very cool_.

And next year, it was her turn to enroll at Beacon Academy.

So there he was, listening to the sound of his grandchild's staff swinging and whistling through the air as he read the newspaper. As the peace of a normal, routinary day went by, he heard his granddaughter let out a shrill cry as if she'd just seen the most horrifying ghost.

So he got up, yelling, "Rhea!" preparing for a Grimm attack no matter how unlikely it was to happen. He may not have been a huntsman but he was still a soldier in his prime.

Though, when he got up, he found a starstruck look and a wide toothy smile strewn across his grandchild's face. She ran past the fence while folding the tri-section staff behind her and almost screeched to a halt in front of a tall red-haired young lady who looked just as surprised as he was.

"It's you!" Rhea said while bouncing on the balls of her feet as she looked up.

"Uh..."

"You're Celestiella Margory, right!?"

And as soon as the name was said (yelled, more like), heads turned towards them and whispers and gossip were thrown thereabouts.

"Tall, red hair, long twin braids, mean look."

"It's her alright."

"Who now?"

"You numbnuts, the huntress who fought the Grimm Apocalypse alone until Beacon arrived!"

"Oh, that's her?"

"Yeah, she is!"

"Holy, she's taller in person!"

Tiella shyly looked around her, forcing a smile on her face before her eyes were brought back down when the little girl called Rhea spoke up again.

"M-Miss Margory?" She spoke, a little uncertain after receiving no response. She was about to apologize for mistaking her identity but...

"Yep, that's me," Tiella said, putting on her friendliest, easiest smile — Karen forced that particular skill on her, smiling amicably, that was. "You've heard of me before?" She asked as she bent over with hands on her knees.

The girl beamed wide, gasping in pure delight which surprised Tiella because she didn't think she could smile any wider than when she came up to her. "Yes! I saw you on the news! You were fighting all those Grimm alone and barehanded! That's _so_ cool! You're my hero! Can I please shake your hand?"

Tiella opened her mouth to object but the stars in the little girl's eyes were so bright she didn't have the heart to do so. "S-Sure," She licked her lips. "No problem." Reaching her hand out.

Rhea quickly took her hand in both of hers, tightly shaking her hand. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She sputtered on and on. "I'm so glad that you're okay! I saw you fall and then the live feed got cut and the next thing we saw, _Super Idol Huntress Lilly_ was singing and dancing and killing all those Grimm!" She, red in the cheeks, leaned a little closer and whispered all excited. "She was super cool but I think you're cooler."

Stunned, Tiella couldn't utter a word of response as the girl leaned away and smiled at her proudly. Tiella bit her lips, unable to keep the embarrassed smile on her face. She paused for a short bit, choosing her words carefully. "Thanks, but I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for everyone that came to help."

"But my friends say that they wouldn't have been able to keep the Grimm from invading if it weren't for you, so that makes you cooler!" Rhea counterpointed before gasping in realization. "Is that your Semblance? You can lure Grimm to you?"

"Uh..." Tiella drawled, biting her lips once again as she looked aside. Rhea looked at her all confused but before she could ask again, Tiella spoke. "It's a little bit more complicated than that. I can't tell you what my Semblance is yet because the bad guys might use that knowledge against me — I guess I just looked a little juicier than everything else that time." Tiella looked up with a cheeky half-smile. "I wonder why?"

Rhea was a little confused but she was a little intrigued too, she didn't expect her hero to be such a chill person to talk to too. She realized that she'd been holding and shaking Tiella's hand a little too long so she quickly let go and smiled at her embarrassedly.

"By the way, you haven't told me your name." Tiella smiled as she stood upright.

"Oh, sorry! It's Rhea, Rhea Goldbloom."

"Nice to meet you, Rhea. You know my name but you can just call me Tiella, everybody does."

"Excuse me, are you Miss Tiella?"

* * *

"And then three little girls show up, probably the same age as Rhea, introducing themselves, telling me we actually already met in Vale. Headmaster Ozpin was there and they even took a photo with me too, they said. It was _hella_ weird."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it is."

"But did you hate it though?"

"Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeah, nah."

Karen gave her a look and it irritated Tiella because she knew what that look meant.

"Karen, seriously, I didn't like it."

"Suuuure you didn't."

"Don't be-"

"So, anyway, what happened next?"

Tiella scoffed and elbowed Karen again. "Nothing. Just pictures and more gushing. They let me go and I bought cigs then went home."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, alright, _Miss Margory_."

"Oh my god, don't do that again. You're giving me the creeps."

"Screw you, Tielle." Karen elbowed Tiella. "You have nicknames for _literally everybody_ but you don't like it when someone calls _you_ anything other than _Tiella_."

"Or Tielle."

" _Or Tielle_." Karen shrugged. She leaned back with her hands on the floorboards and let out a contented sigh. "This is the life, Tielle. I'd love to retire like this."

"Thinking about retirement?"

"Yep."

"In our line of work?"

"Why not? Master did and we aren't those kinds of mercenaries anymore, Tielle. Our last mission together made us actually useful members of society. Even if our- the world is like it is, we can actually think about the future with how things are thanks to Lilly."

"Thanks to Lilly?"

"Yep."

"Huh."

Tiella cast her eyes to the ground. She took out another stick, biting it between her lips and lighting it up. She breathed deeply before letting out a slow smokey breath. She shut her eyes, held her cigarette between her fingers, and took a deep breath. As she basked in the ambiance of her environment, visions of blurry images flashed in her mind.

It made her feel things.

Things that she understood by logic but not by... _feeling_.

A quick flash in her mind came again, one that showed a woman with long and silky black hair. Her face was swollen from the cheeks, her lips were busted, and blood trickled down from the cut on her eyebrow. Tears raced down her cheeks as well but she looked as if she was choking as she wept. But despite it all, her glimmering purple eyes shined with joy, and the smile on her face, torn between happiness and pain, a whole other bucket of strong emotions, told her things.

Things she didn't quite understand but felt somewhat familiar with.

A new image passed her mind by, it went as quickly as it came. It was of a boy, built thick as a tree. His hands up to his forearms were mangled beyond repair but the look in his eyes expressed an undying rage that promised vengeance. But, curiously, instead of feeling agitation from such a look, she felt quite...

...

...

...

...relieved?

Tiella looked up at the sky, breathed deeply the cathartic smoke that filled her lungs only to expel it after holding it in for a short moment. She felt the heat radiating onto her fingers and found that her cigarette was almost gone.

 _"Was I that deep in thought that I didn't notice the time?"_

She extinguished the cigarette, crushing it onto the floorboard, and flicked it into the trash bin behind her.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"I think some of my memories returned."

Karen quickly shot up from her relaxed pose, draping her right arm over Tiella's shoulder as she leaned her face closer to the taller girl. "Really!? Tell!"

"Two things," Tiella clicked her tongue, miffed that the memories that returned were vague. "Lilly's face looked like it was beaten to a pulp. She was crying but it looked like she was happy."

"Yeah? What kind of injuries?"

"Cut to her brow, busted lips, swollen cheek, blood from her head."

Karen nodded at each injury as she checked her memories as well. Unfortunately, such injuries, while not quite in the norm, also wasn't rare to see from the girl. Fortunately, however, she could only think of two occasions when Lilly was heavily injured but ended up looking as if she just won the lottery.

"What else can you tell me? What she wore, where you were?"

Tiella shook her head as she smacked her lips together. She bit her lips while trying to remember the image in her mind but it appeared for only a second to her, and it was already quite something that she remembered that much from that short a time.

"I dunno, honestly. Her clothes looked torn and shit," She guessed offhandedly.

Karen nodded with a nasal sigh. "Okay, so, I can think of two things."

"Uh-huh."

"One," Karen held a finger up. "The time your argument turned into a fistfight. You didn't like the way she was taking everyone's jobs but you didn't really care at first, it wasn't until she began telling you what to do that you had enough and threw the first punch."

Tiella looked a little doubtful but she could definitely see herself throwing hands if some stranger started telling her how to do her job.

"Lilly walked away at first, apologizing for overstepping her bounds but the way she said it was a little condescending to you, so you got _even angrier_ and dragged her into the sparring grounds by the scruff of her neck."

"Wait, I think she told me something about our first fight leading to the beginning of our friendship."

"Yep!" Karen smiled wryly. "It's like a story out of those Japanese cartoons about boys communicating with their fists through brawls and they end up being rivals/best friends."

Tiella looked disgusted at the thought. "God, that's so cheesy."

"You're right, you two _ARE_ cheesy." Karen teased. "So, anyway, you girls beat each other up and you both ended up professing your undying love for each other."

Tiella backhand slapped Karen's face as the disgust contorted her face even further. "Fuck off."

Karen grabbed her wrist and pulled it down while crushing and twisting it in her grip, but Tiella's physical strength was still above hers in nearly every department, so she didn't have much luck with contests of physical strength with her as an opponent.

"I exaggerated a little, sure, but you can't deny that your actual friendship started there. Both of you were a little awkward with each other at first but guess who tried to bridge yourselves together first."

" _Me_ ," Tiella said, fully sarcastic.

" _Yep_ ," Karen replied, absolutely cheeky but also completely serious.

"Shut the fuck up." Tiella blurted in utter disbelief.

Karen laughed and shook her head. "You made her a cup of coffee the morning after. You just left it on her desk and didn't even say a word." She saw the disbelief in her friend's face growing further and it made her laugh hysterically. "I was honestly surprised too! I don't even know what was said and done during or after your spar but something happened and you made the first move."

" _Jeeeesus Christ_." Tiella ran her hands over her face as if it was an attempt to get rid of the disbelief on her face, not that it did. "You're not joking."

"Nope." Karen popped the 'p'.

"Damn."

"Mhm."

"I swear if my memories return and you're shitting me."

"Then I'll buy you, like, 12 cartons of milk or something, sheesh." Karen grabbed Tiella's Tiellas and gave them a good squeeze and a shake. "Calm your milkers — oh, looks like you grew a cup since I last checked. Still not as amazing as mine, though."

"You bitch!" Tiella slapped her hands away and locked Karen's head in an armlock. "Don't you fucking forget that!"

Karen got out of Tiella's hold and didn't talk back but she did give Tiella a look that asked the question, " _Really, girl?_ "

Tiella didn't respond verbally as well, but she gave Karen a pointed look with a matching pointed finger.

"Whatever." Karen rolled her eyes. "Lilly drank the coffee you made for her. She said that the taste could use a lot of work but it was one of the most important things she's ever received." She laughed nostalgically at the memory.

All Tiella could do to respond was huff through her nose and look away. She didn't know what to feel about a best friend she couldn't remember. "And the second thing?"

"That," Karen pointed, "would be the time you first encountered _The Stranger_."

"The Stranger." Tiella deadpanned.

" _The Stranger_."

Tiella rolled her eyes and went along. " _The Stranger_."

"Yup," Karen nodded satisfied, "you called him a "fucking monster" but, basically, he was the dude that possessed you."

"Sorry, what the fuck?"

"The Evil God that Lilly mentioned."

" _Evil God?_ "

"We still don't know his identity, we only know that he's evil and he's powerful. We think he's way up in the tier list of gods."

Tiella was so deep in disbelief that her mind looked for a distraction. And that distraction was the cigarettes she still had a lot of. So she took a stick and lit it up, all the while Karen looked at her wryly.

"I know, it's hard to believe but Lilly told you about it before, didn't she?"

Tiella let the smoke pass through her nostrils as she hung her head low before perking up and resting her chin atop her palm, elbow propped on her knee. "I know. But I don't know what to feel about it. If gods are real, then I know who to blame for my fucked up life at least."

"I don't know about that," Was Karen's hesitant response.

"At least let me blame something other than me, Karen," Tiella replied softly and tiredly. "Give me that much for now."

Karen wasn't sure about what to say, but knowing the girl, it was already something for her to be opening up, even if it _was_ to her. She never was the type to admit anything she felt other than boredom, annoyance, anger, hate, and disgust, with a little bit of casual enjoyment. So instead of thinking of what to do, she did what she felt was right.

She pulled herself closer to Tiella with an arm wrapped around the taller girl's waist. She leaned her head on Tiella's shoulder and commiseratingly squeezed Tiella's waist gently. Normally, Tiella would assume that Karen was feeling her up again but the look on her friend's face told her that she was trying to sympathize with her.

Stirring in their thoughts, another short while passed with no words exchanged. Karen pulled away from the side hug to sit more comfortably.

"Right, what was that second thing you remembered?" She asked as she tapped Tiella by the forearm to ask for another light.

Fetching her cigs, she gave Karen one and lit it up too. "Some muscled dudebro with cracked forearms looking angry as fuck."

Karen couldn't control the outburst of laughter that came out of her as soon as she heard the description, which got Tiella looking at her funny. "I know he looks like a dudebro but, seriously, Tielle, he's far from one."

"So it's Bardy then?"

"Yes," Karen laughed the word out. "It's Bardy. He's actually a sweetheart if you look past the constant swearing, short temper, and aloof facade. I once saw him lip-syncing to A1, said he grew up listening to them because his mother's a huge fan of boy bands."

"Great, so he's a dudebro."

"He's really not." Karen shot her a half-hearted glare paired with a cheeky half-grin. "Besides, you actually like him. Don't give me that look like I'm saying something stupid. You just have to meet him again and get to smacking each other's asses in a fistfight or two."

"We'll see." Tiella half-grinned as she rolled her eyes away from Karen.

While they grinned at each other, Karen realized something Tiella said.

 _"She said 'for now'."_

And it made her smile a bit more genuinely.

* * *

—At the same time.  
Room 312, West Wing Dormitory, Beacon Academy

"Oh no."

A boy, covered in bandages and unable to move without hurting himself, felt dread building up at the pit of his stomach.

"Sonuva-"

And nostrils.

" _HACHOO!_ **_Bitch!_** FUCK!"

Bardel cringed from the pain of sneezing as not only did his nose feel it, his entire body did as well. Muscles involuntarily contracting at an explosive rate to spontaneously eject air out of one's unwilling nostrils did not make a pleasant experience for one who was bedridden due to third-degree burns spanning over 80% of one's body.

And because he was in greater pain than he'd like to admit, he couldn't do anything to wipe his nose. While rueing the day he let himself bathe in a sea of flames, the words of a certain _short-stacked blonde_ (his words) echoed in his mind.

 _"We keep wasting medical kits on you because you don't want to fucking dodge! 'Dodging is for pussies!', no, Bardy, YOU'RE the fucking pussy! You just can't admit that you can't dodge to save your fucking life! I'm not healing you anymore, fuck you! You can tank a fucking nuke for all I care!"_

At the furthest recesses of his mind, he had to admit, if he at least tried to dodge those flames, he didn't have to spend most of his time regretting scratching his ass because it was too painful.

"I should probably learn how to dodge."

* * *

—At the same time.  
Smithy, Beacon Academy

" _A-ha!_ "

Lilly was writing down some of the weapon ideas she'd been meaning to get behind since she arrived at Remnant. Typically, she'd be surrounded by a sea of blueprints but thanks to the advanced technology of the latest developer scroll, she merely had to compile them in files and gigabytes.

"' _The world is vast_ ', is _definitely_ in my top 5 favorite quotes to use."

The ear to ear smile on her face and the bright glimmer in her purple eyes was reminiscent of a child's pure, unadulterated sense of wonder going on full steam.

"And truly, having _two_ worlds to study is a dream within a dream that just became my reality."

The cogs in her mind were running on overdrive and her body shivered as if electricity just coursed through her veins.

"To squander such an invaluable opportunity would make me regret it even after my death. I can finally create the things I thought I would never be able to create due to time and technological limitations that even I can't bypass! In theory, I should be able to create them. Now I just need to create the things I need to create more of the things I need to create the things I want to create!"

She squealed in excitement as she monologued.

"Prepare, world! For _Avatāra_ is just about to undergo a long-overdue armament upgrade. _MWAHAHAHAHAHA!_ "

 _"And Ozpin said he'd take care of funding as long as I give Beacon Academy exclusive rights to recreate them in the future!"_

She grinned wide and toothy, and the slight drool that trailed down her chin was just the icing on the cake as she laughed maniacally — uncaring of the other students who were also at the Forge that day.

Luckily for them, her creepy laughter was stopped when she checked the time on her scroll. "Ah!" She exclaimed. _"16:28, it's almost time for the meeting."_ She gently and lovingly stroked some of the materials she gathered as if she were a mother saying her farewells to her child who was going to college. "I shall return, my sweet, sweet, children."

Or perhaps she was.

She took one thick slab of metal, hugged it, and smothered it with her cheek. "I'll be sure to finish the meeting as soon as possible for you!" She said before gently laying it down the desk and running off towards the Grand Clocktower.

Meanwhile, everyone left in the smithy that was tending to their own weapon plans simply brushed aside her eccentricity since it reminded them of a certain little red riding hood and a certain battle bunny.

* * *

AN: _Hello again!_

 _I'm still alive!_

 _Did you know? The "Monster" in the game title "Monster Hunter: World" is an adjective?_

 _Anyway, please take that as an indication of the time I spent away from writing._

 _Thank you for waiting patiently, I hope you enjoyed this chapter._


End file.
